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White Americans no longer a majority by 2042, report says

White people will no longer make up a majority of Americans by 2042, according to new government projections.

That’s eight years sooner than previous estimates, made in 2004.

The US has been growing more diverse for decades, but the process has sped up through immigration and higher birth rates among minority residents, especially Hispanics.

It is also growing older.

“The white population is older and very much centered around the aging baby boomers who are well past their high fertility years,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

“The future of America is epitomized by the young people today. They are basically the melting pot we are going to see in the future,” he said.

The Census Bureau yesterday released population projections through 2050, based on rates for births, deaths and immigration.

They are subject to big revisions, depending on immigration policy, cultural changes and natural or manmade disasters.

The US has nearly 305 million people today. The population is projected to hit 400 million in 2039 and 439 million in 2050.

That’s like adding all the people from France and Britain, said Steve Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based group that advocates tighter immigration policies.
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