The Black population is on the rise in the United States.

From 2002-2022, the Black population has grown by 32 percent which amounts to 11 million people. In total, there are almost 48 million Black people in the country according to a research study conducted by the Pew Research Center.

Mark Lopez, director of Race and Ethnicity Work at the Pew Center said that the Black population is keeping pace with the growth of other ethnic groups who were subjects of the study.

“The African American population is not the fastest growing, but they are growing at least as fast as the rest of the nation,” Lopez told The Philadelphia Tribune. The nation’s Asian population, for example, has grown more quickly. The nation’s white population has grown a little more slowly. As the nation has grown, so has the Black population. 

“Since 2000, Blacks have represented about 13 to 14 percent of the U.S. population of the nation. The number of Americans who say they are two or more races has gone up—and there has been a rise in the inter-race marriage rate. Also, there have been more people saying they are both Black and Hispanic on census forms.”The study shows that the general fertility rate for Black females aged 15-44 was 6.1 percent in 2022.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is not the reason that would only have been a factor the past few years. The national Black population was growing before that time across the nation,” Lopez continued. “The Black population looks a lot like other groups. The fertility rate was a little higher for Latinos, and a little lower for white Americans.”

Among the several factors that caused the Black population growth include a rise in birth rates among Black women between the ages of 15 to 44; interracial marriages have increased; more mixed-raced people have chosen to identify as Black, a notable rise of immigrants from African and Caribbean countries, and the fertility rate among Black females ages 15-44 rose 6.1 percent in 2022.

Since 2000, foreign-born Black Americans have doubled from 2.4 million people to 5.1 million.  Foreign-born U.S. Blacks now make up 11% of the nation’s population.

Another key component discovered in the study is that Black Americans are the youngest of all ethnic groups. Although just 12 percent were 65 or older, 30 percent of the entire Black population was below the age of 20.

“When we take a look at the national Black population—they are relatively young compared to the nation’s white population,” Lopez noted. “For many young Black Americans, they play an important role in helping to diversify the workforce.”

Revealing the ever-present racial wealth gap, the study showed that 49 percent of Black households in the U.S. earned less than $50,000 and 51 percent of the Black population earned $50,000 or more. Only a third of African-American households earned $75,000 or more while 22% of Black households reported $100,000 or more in income that year.

Additionally, married couples represented 39 percent of Black households with 31 percent of African American households being led by single women, and 5 percent of households were led by single men.

The growth of the Black population in the U.S. is also seen in geographical terms. In May, Memphis, Tenn., overtook Detroit as the nation’s largest majority-Black city in America.

According to the 2022 population estimates, Memphis’ Black population grew to 621,056 while Detroit boasts 620,376, a small difference of just 680 residents. 

Both midwestern cities “have a larger percentage of Black residents than bigger cities like New York and Chicago.”