For the first time in U.S. history, more than half of all babies born in 2011 were nonwhite, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. This furthers a long-standing trend in the racial makeup of the population, and hints that the next generations of Americans will be far more diverse than today.
The data show that almost half of all children younger than age 5 are from minority groups, including Hispanic, black and Asian.
The 197.5 million white Americans of all ages still make up nearly two-thirds of the nation. Minorities comprised 36.6 percent of the U.S. population in 2011 compared with 36.1 percent in 2010.
Hispanics were the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the U.S. in 2011, with 52 million or nearly 17 percent of the nation’s population. There were 43.9 million African-Americans in the U.S. in 2011, according to the data, and Asians were the second-fastest growing population in the nation with 18 million people, or 3 percent of the population.
One of the biggest factors in transforming the country's racial and ethnic makeup is age. Whites, with a median age that is over 42, are by far the oldest group, with many beyond their prime childbearing years. In contrast, the median age for Hispanics is under 28. Blacks and Asians have median ages in their early 30s.
