Nearly half of the nation's children under 5 are racial or ethnic minorities, and the percentage is increasing mainly because the Hispanic population is growing so rapidly, according to a census report released today.
Hispanics are the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group.
They accounted for 49 percent of the country's growth from 2004 to 2005, the report shows.
And the increase in young children is largely a Hispanic story, driving 70 percent of the growth in children younger than 5.
Forty-five percent of U.S. children younger than 5 are minorities.
The new numbers offer a preview of demographic shifts to come, with broad implications for the nation's schools, workforce and Social Security.
One in three Americans is now a member of a minority group, a share that is bound to rise, because the non-Hispanic white population is older and growing much more slowly.
William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, predicted that the United States will have "a multicultural population that will probably be more tolerant, accommodating to other races and more able to succeed in a global economy."
There could be increased competition for money and power, he added: "The older, predominantly white baby-boom generations will need to accommodate younger, multiethnic young adults and child populations in civic life, political decisions and sharing of government resources" in places such as the Washington suburbs.
In some suburban communities, government officials face a cultural generation gap as they weigh demands from older white residents for senior citizen centers, transportation and other aid against requests from younger, mainly minority residents for translation assistance, preschools and other services.
Experts say immigrant families are becoming more concerned with the quality of their children's early education, aware that it can affect their future academic success.
Read more from this post.
