(photo: AP)

The nation’s population will be far more racially and ethnically diverse by the middle of this century, with white Americans no longer being a majority of the country by 2043, according to an analysis by the Census Bureau.
In addition, the bureau estimates that no single ethnic group will make up a majority of the children 18 or younger by the end of this decade.
“The next half century marks key points in continuing trends — the U.S. will become a plurality nation, where the non-Hispanic white population remains the largest single group, but no group is in the majority,” said Thomas L. Mesenbourg Jr., the Census Bureau’s acting director.
The racial categories that are now considered minorities will make up 57 percent of the nation’s population in 2060. The total minority population would more than double, from 116.2 million to 241.3 million over the period, the report stated.
It also said that the nation’s non-Hispanic white population is projected to peak in 2024, at 199.6 million, up from 197.8 million in 2012. Unlike other race or ethnic groups, however, its population is projected to slowly decrease, falling by nearly 20.6 million from 2024 to 2060.
Meanwhile, the Hispanic population would more than double, from 53.3 million in 2012 to 128.8 million in 2060. Consequently, by the end of the period, nearly one in three U.S. residents would be Latino, up from about one in six today.
The Black population is expected to increase from 41.2 million to 61.8 million over the same period. Its share of the total population would rise slightly, from 13.1 percent in 2012 to 14.7 percent in 2060.
The nation’s Asian population is projected to more than double, as well, from 15.9 million in 2012 to 34.4 million in 2060, with its share of the nation's total population climbing from 5.1 percent to 8.2 percent in the same period.

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