Census Data Shows White Population Shrinking below 60 Percent

The U.S. non-Hispanic white population dropped below 60 percent for the first time this past decade, according to the 2020 Census, while population growth occurred among minority groups.

The data, released Tuesday, showed the white alone population falling to roughly 58 percent, a decline from the 64 percent counted in 2010. The data also showed that population growth happened almost entirely in metropolitan areas, and that overall population growth slowed during the last decade, as it has since the 1990s.

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Nicholas Jones, director and senior adviser of Race and Ethnic Research and Outreach at the population division of the Census Bureau, said at a Thursday news conference that improvements in the survey’s designs helped showcase a “more accurate portrait” of the country’s racial and ethnic makeup {snip}

“These changes reveal that the U.S. population is much more multiracial and more racially and ethnically diverse than what we measured in the past,” Jones said. {snip}

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