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It's
official:
Latinos
now
outnumber
whites
in
California
By
Javier
Panzar /
latimes.com
LOS
ANGELES,
CA - The
demographers
agreed:
At some
point in
2014,
Latinos
would
pass
whites
as the
largest
ethnic
group in
California.
Determining
when
exactly
that
milestone
would
occur
was more
of a
tricky
question.
Counting
people
isn't
like
counting
movie
ticket
receipts.
The
official
confirmation
had to
wait
until
new
population
figures
were
released
by the
Census
Bureau
this
summer.
The new
tally,
released
in late
June,
shows
that as
of July
1, 2014,
about
14.99
million
Latinos
live in
California,
edging
out the
14.92
million
whites
in the
state.
The
shift
shouldn't
come as
a
surprise.
State
demographers
had
previously
expected
the
change
to occur
sometime
in 2013,
but slow
population
growth
pushed
back
projections.
In
January
2014,
the
state
Department
of
Finance
estimated
the
shift
would
take
place at
some
point in
March.
Either
way, the
moment
has
officially
arrived.
"This is
sort of
the
official
statistical
recognition
of
something
that has
been
underway
for
almost
an
entire
generation,"
said
Roberto
Suro,
director
of the
Tomás
Rivera
Policy
Institute
at USC.
California
is now
the
first
large
state
and the
third
overall
— after
Hawaii
and New
Mexico —
without
a white
plurality,
according
to state
officials.
The
country's
Latino
population
is now
55.4
million.
California
and Los
Angeles
County
have the
largest
Latino
populations
of any
state or
county
in the
nation,
according
to the
new
figures.
The
demographic
shift
has been
a long
time
coming.
In 1970,
the 2.4
million
Latinos
in
California
accounted
for 12%
of the
population,
while
the 15.5
million
whites
in the
state
made up
more
than
three-quarters
of
residents,
according
to state
figures.
By 1990,
the
Latino
population
jumped
to 7.7
million,
or about
25% of
the
state's
population.
The
Latino
population
is
relatively
young,
with a
median
age of
about
29,
while
the
aging
white
population
has a
median
age of
45.
State
demographers
project
Latinos
will
account
for
about
49% of
Californians
by 2060.
"It is
going to
accelerate,"
Suro
said.
"This is
really
the
beginning
of a new
phase
that
will
play out
over
another
generation."
A young
Latino
workforce
helps
the
economy
by
backfilling
retiring
baby
boomers,
said
John
Malson,
the
chief
demographer
for the
state
finance
department.
The
continued
influx
and
growth
of
Latinos
in the
United
States
is not
being
fueled
exclusively
by
immigration
but by
second-
and
third-generation
immigrants
who are
settling
down and
starting
families,
said
Marcelo
Suárez-Orozco,
a
professor
and dean
of
education
at
UCLA's
Graduate
School
of
Education
and
Information
Studies.
California
is a
harbinger
of the
national
rise in
Latinos.
The
nation's
Latino
population
has
grown
57%
since
2000,
when
Latinos
numbered
35.3
million.
Latinos
accounted
for most
of the
nation's
growth —
56% —
from
2000 to
2010,
according
to the
Pew
Research
Center.
"Where
L.A.
goes is
where
the rest
of the
state
goes and
where
the rest
of the
country
goes,"
he said.
"We
announce,
demographically
speaking,
the
future
for the
rest of
the
country."
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