45% of 18-24-Year-Olds in the U.S. are Part of a Minority Group

Asian-Americans were the fastest-growing minority group in the U.S. last year for the third consecutive year, according to the Census Bureau in newly-released estimates.

Indeed, Asian-Americans’ population growth rate increased from the prior year, up 3.2% to 20.3 million as of July 1, 2014.  The Hispanic population grew by a relatively smaller 2.1% (equal to the previous year’s growth rate), but to a much larger 55.4 million.

In fact, Hispanics accounted for almost 17.4% of the population as of July 2014.

Other race or ethnic groups also grew between July 2013 and 2014:

  • The African-American population grew by 1.3% to 45.7 million;
  • The number of American Indians and Alaska Natives increased by 1.4% to slightly more than 6.5 million; and
  • The Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders population grew by 2.3% to 1.5 million.

As a result of those figures, the U.S.’ minority population (all groups other than non-Hispanic single-race whites) climbed to almost 121 million people, accounting for 37.9% of the total population.

The non-Hispanic white-alone population was the only to have more deaths than births between 2013 and 2014.  That population is much older than the minority population; the median age of the non-Hispanic white-alone population was 43.1 years, while it was 28.5 for Hispanics and under 35 for all other races save non-Hispanic Asians (36.4).

The relative youth of the minority population means that for the first time, a majority (50.2%) of children under 5 belong to a minority group.  Looking at various age groups, the data indicates that:

  • Some 48.1% of Americans under the age of 18 are minorities (any group other non-Hispanic single-race whites);
  • Minorities represent 45.5% of 14-17-year-olds;
  • Minorities comprise 44.9% of the 18-24 bracket;
  • Some 42.3% of Americans aged 25-44 belong to a group other than non-Hispanic whites;
  • Fewer than one-third (31%) of Americans aged 45-64 are minorities; and
  • About 1 in 5 Americans aged 65+ (21.7%) or 85+ (17.7%) are minorities.

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