Among Nation’s Youngest, Analysis Finds Fewer Whites

Whites continued to decline as a share of the American population in 2009, and they now represent less than half of all 3-year-olds, according to a Brookings Institution analysis of census data released Monday.

The country’s young population is more diverse than ever, with whites now in the minority in nursery schools, preschools and kindergartens in eight states–Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas–and the District of Columbia, according to William H. Frey, a demographer at Brookings. {snip}

{snip}

Population growth has come instead from Hispanics, blacks and Asians, whose children represent ever larger shares of the school population. Twenty-three percent of children in kindergarten were Hispanic in 2009, up from 18 percent in 2000 and 10 percent in 1989. Hispanics now account for nearly a fifth of all enrollment from nursery school through college, Mr. Frey said.

{snip}