By Sheryl Estrada
Photo by Shutterstock
By 2055, use of the term”minority”in regards to race will be obsolete as no racial or ethnic group will be a majority in the U.S., according to a new report.
In “Modern Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to U.S., Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065,” released on Monday, The Pew Research Center provides an analysis of census data and offers population projections.
The white population in the U.S., at 84 percent 50 years ago, is now 62 percent and willfall below 50 percent in 2055. In 2065, according to Pew projections, whites will make up 46 percent of the population, Latinos 24 percent and Asians 14 percent. After 2060, Asians are projected to surpass Blacks, who will be 13 percent of the U.S. population.
From: “Modern Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to U.S., Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065”
Immigration and U.S.Population
Immigration changes havereshaped the U.S. demographic profile by producing differing growth rates ofracial and ethnic groups. Pew projected that, by 2065, there will be 78 million immigrants.In 2015, the foreign-born population has increased to 14 percent, or 45 million.
Asians are predicted to surpass Latinos in 2065 as the largest immigrant group. Since 2011, Asia has been the largest source region among recently arrived immigrants.
The authors state:
Over the next 50 years, the majority of U.S. population growth is linked to new Asian immigration (35 percent) and new Latino immigration (25 percent). An additional 18 percent will be due to new white immigrants and their descendants, and 8 percent to Black immigrants and their descendants.
From: “Modern Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to U.S., Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065”
Approximately 12 percent of projected growth can be attributedto the population already in the country in 2015 and its descendants. Immigrants will account for 88 percent of the population growth, or 103 million people by 2065, as the nation grows to 441 million.
Since 1965, when Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act, immigrants and their descendants have fueled major population. The law replaced the national origins quota system with a seven-category preference system emphasizing family reunification and skilled immigrants, which increased immigration fromAsia, Africa and Latin America.
According to Pew, without any post-1965 immigration, the nation’s racial and ethnic composition would be very different today: 75 percent white, 14 percent Black, eight percent Latino and less than one percent Asian.
Recently, immigration from Latin American and Mexico has slowed. In 2015, 47 percent of immigrants living in the U.S. are Latino. By 2065, that number is expected to fall to31 percent, while Asians will make up 38 percent of the foreign-born population. However, Latinos will remain a larger share of the nation’s overall population.
According to a report published in June byNielsen(No. 42 on theFair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list), the buying power of Asian Americans expanded by $718 to $770 billion in 2014. It is expected to soar to$1 trillion by 2018. At just 5.3 percent of the population, Asian American spending contends with Blacks at 13 percent, spending approximately $1 trillion, and Latinos at 17 percent, spending approximately $1.4 trillion.
Views on Immigrants in the U.S.
From March 10 to April 16, Pew also conducted a bilingual online survey of 3,147 adults, which collected opinions on immigrants.
45 percent of those surveyed said immigrants in the U.S. are making society better,and 37 percent say they are making it worse. 16 percent say they are not having much effect. Half of Americans want a reduction in immigration, and eight in 10 people want to see the immigration system changed or completely revamped.
Just under half of those who responded to the survey said Asian and European immigrants have had a mostly positive effect on society. Americans are more likely to have negative views about Latin American and Middle Eastern immigrants, per the report.
