NEW YORK – The number of United States residents who identify as “white” has fallen for the first time, according to the latest 2020 census data released yesterday.
The US has grown “more racially and ethnically diverse”, and more urban over the past 10 years, according to the Census Bureau.
The “white” population decreased by 8.6% between 2010 and last year, a first since the earliest such data was taken in 1790.
It remains the largest group in the country, last year representing 204 million residents, or 61.6% of the population. A decade earlier, people identifying as white comprised 72.4%.
Nicholas Jones, an official working in the bureau’s population division, said “improvements” on census questionnaires along with a new methodology compared with the 2010 report “largely” influenced the results, along with “some demographic changes”.
The category “white and some other race” – African or Asian Americans, for example – spiked 316% over the past decade to account for 235 million people.
In the US, it is common to define oneself according to ethnic origin, and the census questionnaire specifically asks for “race” identification.
African Americans represent some 12.4% of the population, or 41 million people, a percentage that has remained stable over the past 10 years.
The Asian-American population, meanwhile, jumped 35.5% to include 20 million people, or 6% of the US population.
Native Americans comprise 1.1% of the population.
The number of people identifying as Hispanic – specified as an ethnicity, not a race, on the questionnaire – soared 23%, accounting for 62 million US residents, or 18% of the total population.
The data additionally shows that population jumps are concentrated “almost entirely in metro areas”, said Mark Perry, also of the Census Bureau.
Census results are essential to determine the distribution of electoral representation across all 50 US states, along with the allocation of billions of dollars in federal funding, especially for schools and hospitals.
The political impact of the census can be a game changer – it is used to determine how many seats in Congress’ House of Representatives each state receives.
Census workers aim to count every person inhabiting the country’s expanse, including homeless people, retirement home residents, and undocumented immigrants.
The vast undertaking is always a challenge, but last year, it was also hamstrung by the Covid-19 pandemic along with controversial management by former president Donald Trump. – AFP, August 13, 2021
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