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Babies
Big Brothers/Big Sisters
ment that we’re living in a different world
than the 1950s, where married or two-par-
ent heterosexual couples are now no longer
the norm for a lot of kids, especially kids of
color,” said Laura Speer, coordinator of the
Kids Count project for the Baltimore-based
Annie E. Casey Foundation.
“It’s clear the younger generation is very
demographically different from the elderly,
something to keep in mind as politics plays
out on how programs for the elderly get
Currently, non-
Hispanic whites make
up just under half of
all children 3 years
old
supported,” she said. “It’s critical that chil-
dren are able to grow to compete interna-
tionally and keep state economies rolling.”
Currently, non-Hispanic whites make up
just under half of all children 3 years old,
which is the youngest age group shown in
the Census Bureau’s October 2009 annual
survey, its most recent. In 1990, more than
60 percent of children in that age group
were white.
William H. Frey, a demographer at the
Brookings Institution who analyzed the
data, said figures in the 2009 survey can
sometimes be inexact compared with the
2010 census, which queries the entire
nation. But he said when factoring in the
2010 data released so far, minorities out-
number whites among babies under age 2.
The preliminary figures are based on an
analysis of the Current Population Survey
as well as the 2009 American Community
Survey, which sampled 3 million U.S.
households to determine that whites made
up 51 percent of babies younger than 2.
After taking into account a larger-than-
expected jump in the minority child popula-
tion in the 2010 census, the share of white
babies falls below 50 percent.
Twelve states and the District of
Columbia now have white populations
below 50 percent among children under age
5 - Hawaii, California, New Mexico, Texas,
Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Maryland,
Georgia, New Jersey, New York and
Mississippi. That’s up from six states and
the District of Columbia in 2000.
At current growth rates, seven more states
could flip to “minority-majority” status
among small children in the next decade:
Illinois, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado,
Connecticut, South Carolina and Delaware.
By contrast, whites make up the vast
majority of older Americans - 80 percent of
seniors 65 and older and roughly 73 percent
of people ages 45-64. Many states with high
percentages of white seniors also have par-
ticularly large shares of minority children,
including Arizona, Nevada, California,
Texas and Florida.
In California, for instance, the median age
Page 4 The Seattle Skanner June 29, 2011
PHOTO bY SuSan Fried
continued from page 1
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound kicked off their african american
mentoring initiative by sponsoring its first ever basketball tournament
Saturday, June 25, at Jefferson community center. Sephron Barrow, on
team J Squad attacks the hoop against team D-9. the girls (D-9) put up a
fight, losing to the boys (J Squad) 7 to 5.
for whites jumped from 40.3 in 2000 to 44.6
years old, even as the state’s overall median
age remained one of the nation’s lowest at
35.2 due to minority births - a sign of the
rapid race change under way, according to
2010 census data released Thursday.
California’s minorities now make up 58
percent of the state’s population, up from 51
percent in 2000.
“The recent emergence of this cultural
generation gap in states with fast growth of
young Hispanics has spurred heated discus-
sions of immigration and the use of govern-
ment services,” Frey said. “But the new
census, which will show a minority majori-
ty of our youngest Americans, makes plain
that our future labor force is absolutely
dependent on our ability to integrate and
educate a new diverse child population.”
Kenneth Johnson, a sociology professor
and senior demographer at the University of
New Hampshire, noted that much of the
race change is being driven by increases in
younger Hispanic women having more chil-
dren than do white women, who have lower
birth rates and as a group are moving
beyond their prime childbearing years.
Because minority births are driving the
rapid changes in the population, “any insti-
tution that touches or is impacted by chil-
dren will be the first to feel the impact,”
Johnson said, citing as an example child and
maternal health care that will have to be
attentive to minorities’ needs.
The numbers come amid public debate
over hotly contested federal and state
issues, from immigration and gay marriage
to the rising cost of government benefits
such as Medicare and Medicaid, that are
resonating in different ways by region and
demographics.
Alabama became the latest state this
month to pass a wide-ranging anti-immigra-
tion law, which in part requires schools to
report students’ immigration status to state
authorities. That follows tough immigration
measures passed in similarly Republican-
leaning states such as Georgia, Arizona and
South Carolina.
But governors in Massachusetts, New
York and Illinois, which long have been
home to numerous immigrants, have opted
out of the federal Secure Communities pro-
gram that aims to deport dangerous crimi-
nals, saying it has made illegal immigrants
afraid of reporting crimes to police.
California may soon opt out as well.
States also are divided by region in their
attitudes about old-age benefits and gay
marriage, which is legal in five states and
the District of Columbia.
Among African-Americans, U.S. house-
holds headed by women - mostly single
mothers but also adult women living with
siblings or elderly parents - represented
roughly 30 percent of all African-American
households, compared with the 28 percent
share of married-couple African-American
households. It was the first time the number
of female-headed households surpassed
those of married couples among any race
group, according to census records
reviewed by Frey dating back to 1950.
While the number of black single mothers
has been gradually declining, overall mar-
riages among blacks are decreasing faster.
That reflects a broader U.S. trend of declin-
ing marriage rates as well as increases in
non-family households made up of people
living alone, or with unmarried partners or
our future labor force is
dependent on our
ability to integrate and
educate a new diverse
child population
other non-relatives.
Female-headed households make up a 19
percent share among Hispanics and 9 per-
cent each for whites and Asians.
Other findings:
-Multigenerational households composed
of families with grandparents, parents and
children were most common among
Hispanics, particularly in California,
Maryland, Illinois, Nevada and Texas, all
states where they represented roughly 1 in
10 Latino households.
-Roughly 581,000, or a half percent, of
U.S. households are composed of same-sex
unmarried couples, representing nearly 1 in
10 households with unmarried partners.
Unmarried gay couples made up the biggest
shares in states in the Northeast and West,
led by the District of Columbia, Oregon,
Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine and
Vermont. The largest numbers were in
California and New York, which is now
considering a gay marriage law.
-Minorities comprise a majority of renters
in 10 states, plus the District of Columbia
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