Posted on June 13, 2011

White Children in the Minority in Ten States

CNN News Blogs, April 6, 2011

White children are now in the minority among people under 18 in 10 U.S. states and 35 large metro areas, according to a Brookings analysis of 2010 Census data.

The number of white children in metro areas including Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; Orlando, Florida; and Phoenix, Arizona, fell below that of other children in the last decade as the population of white children nationwide declined by 4.3 million, the report said.

The decline occurred as the number of children identified as “new minorities”–Hispanics, Asians and other racial groups apart from whites, blacks and American Indians–grew by 5.5 million, the report said.

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Hispanics now comprise 23% of children, up from 12% in 1990, while whites now comprise just 53% of youth, down from nearly 70% in 1990.

The findings also underscore projections that the country will become “white minority” by 2042 as the race’s median age keeps increasing. The child population stands to hit that mark in 2023.

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Not surprisingly, most of the states that experienced growth in populations of minority children are the ones where white children are in the minority: California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Maryland.