Growing Diversity Among America’s Children and Youth: Spatial and temporal dimensions
In 2009, 48 percent of children born in the United States were minorities. According to the report from the University of New Hampshire, the statistic underscorea trends in which youth are at the forefront of the country’s rapidly shifting demographic makeup.
Between 2000 and 2008, the number of minority children grew by 4.8 million, or 16 percent, and the non-Hispanic white youth population declined by 2.6 million, or 5 percent. Forty-seven percent of children under 5 years of age and 40 percent of youth ages 15 to 19 are minorities. In contrast, only 31 percent of the population 20 years old and over is a minority.
The researchers note key reasons for the growing child diversity, chiefly issues of fertility and immigration. They find that although the minority child population is dispersing spatially, there still exist broad areas of the country with few minority children. Thus, the geographic landscape of minority children suggests the emergence of two Americas: an increasing racially diverse region and a largely white region.
The report was published in the journal Population and Development Review.
