Summer CE Week #5: “Minorities to become majority by 2042″
Census projection
The number of minorities in the United States is growing so briskly that non-Hispanic whites will lose their majority status in 2042, years before demographers had previously projected, according to census data released Wednesday.
The population is surging on almost all fronts, the new figures show. There will be 400 million people in the U.S. in 31 years, up from fewer than 305 million now.
The swelling numbers will transform Americans’ standard of living from the environment to public schools, demographers and public policy experts say.
“It affects quality of life in very important ways,” said Mark Mather, who studies U.S. demographic trends for the Population Reference Bureau, a research group in Washington, D.C. “We’re already experiencing that in traffic congestion, in schools and in our crowded coastal areas.”
Dramatic growth in the numbers of legal and illegal immigrants, especially Hispanics, has propelled the increase. Annual immigration this year is about 1 million and is projected to double by 2050.
Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center, said the earlier projections were low because they underestimated immigration.
“We’ve measured a much higher immigration in the ’90s,” he said. “In this decade, those high levels continued.”
Census projections in 2000 forecast that minorities in the nation would become a majority in 2059, 17 years later than previously forecast. The latest figures show that in 2050, non-Hispanic whites will have fallen to 46 percent of the population.
Since this article is extremely brief, I would like anyone that decides to post/respond to it, to focus on the ramifications of these numbers and the changes likely to ensue as a result of these demographic changes. Be thorough in your thought-process and feel free to provide additional data and statistics to support your views. Kautzman
Wow!! I thought this was really interesting! And wasn’t there a scare a few years ago that our population was diminishing? Funny. It’s crazy to think that in 31 years there will be almost one million more people in the states. One million more people to feed. One million more people to house. One more million to integrate into our school system. One more million crowding our already shallow transportation system. Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this huge population increase, resulting from massive numbers of immigrants. Part of me is proud that our nation is a refuge for the deprived peoples of the world. That’s what the statue of liberty symbolizes. The lady of liberty welcoming her arms to the oppressed. However, I’m also questioning what these new immigrants will mean and bring to our country. Obviously, these immigrants bring their own language, own customs, own religion etc. Will they all be willing to integrate into our American way of life or will they slowly break our nation apart? I’m glad that our nation can be diverse, but when there’s too much diversity we will no longer be the UNITED States of America. I think our leaders will have a tough job of making sure that these immigrants will have sufficient housing and education. Otherwise we will have countless sections where they only speak Spanish or Japanese or Dutch or whatever…breaking apart our unique American values. I believe sooner or later there must be some restrictions of who and how many comes into our country. Our nation must be ready and open for a change and these immigrants must also be ready to integrate and learn the American way of life.
The minorities are coming! The minorities are coming! We only knew this was going to happen for a while. I always felt that the year the demographer projected for whites becoming the minorities was too far ahead to be true. Changes in the majority/minority status were inevitable, but the changes to the nations are yet to be predicted (at least by this article). Although it is not evident in Spokane, Hispanics are increasing in huge proportions. The ramifications of this could be anything. The most likely thing that will happen is that Spanish will become more of a mainstream language in urban society for more of the country than the Border States. I know it is spoken a lot in southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Spanish may become the predominant language in parts of the country (unless English is declared the official language of the country, which I believe is being, or was, discussed). The predicted rise in population of over 100 million people in a little less than forty years will also prompt more schools, homes, and other such buildings as well as revising education, health care, immigration, and other government programs and departments to deal with the influx of people. Also with the rise of minorities, political campaigns like Barack Obama’s will become commonplace, and we might see trends developing of whites not getting the presidency for a long time, though probably not forty-three consecutive times.
I think this large increase of population could end up being for the better. Also maybe minorities becoming the majorities might be what we need in this country.
The general population growing might sound like its bad because we are already in some places over crowded like in school but its not like we don’t have room to spread out. The moment you get out of most big cities such as Seattle there is nothing. It is just plains with nothing there so why not expand to those desolate places? Or a vast majority of the mid-west? That leaves plenty of room for people to live and fit comfortably. Also with more people living here it could keep our economy more level and consistant instead of having huge deficits and huge surpluses. Hopefully by this time there will be better technologies coming out and there will be a need for workers.
With the minorities in the population starting to even out with the majorities this could potentially make the States a better place. It might be able to break down racism and hatred if everyone is on an level playing field. And if the majority now is to become the minority it could put those who discriminate in their place by them having to live with being a minority. On the flip side the exact opposite could happen and it would lead this country in flaming tailspin and we could potentially have round 2 of the race riots. But we will have to wait and see assuming that we will still be here in 34 years.
Why is it that it has to appear that for some reason the United States is so afraid of “minorities”? It’s interesting in the first place that we even have to divide the nation in majority and minority categories. If we are all living in the same country , than we all should be considered a nation as a whole. The problem at hand shouldn’t be that more minorities are coming and may tip our majority scale but that more people are coming in general. The population is absolutely out of control. The ethnicity, the cultural background, the country one was born in… is all regardless. It’s all just more people being born and more people stressing our entire world’s natural and man-made resources. Currently our population is somewhere around 6 billion. According to projections, the population is going to be at 8 billion by 2028 and nearly 9 billion by 2054. We need to stop reproducing like we have some shortage of human beings, because the truth is far from that. We have too many and continue to push our point of sustainability. The issue of immigration consequently of course will gain prominence in the upcoming years, because not only in the United States but around the world will be experiencing lack of housing, transportation and food. Not to mention the ultimate quality of living will decrease as more and more of the nation’s resources and the world’s will be being consumed at a disastrous rate. Minority and majority are not the relevant concern because it’s going to come down to humans versus earth and in that case humans will have the unhealthy majority.
In response to Vanessa, she is right; we are all in the same country… why are we all afraid of each other? We are saying that we don’t judge and that we want peace and harmony around other people, but how can we do that when we’re building walls to keep everyone out of “our side of the country”. If our population continues to grow, we are all going to have to accept the fact that we’re going to have to live with each other and those from different cultural backgrounds, or skin colors. Minorities are going to soon become the majority.
The amount of people on this planet is absurd. I understand the math behind our population and it makes sense. People have kids who have kids who have kids and so on. But unlike math that number can’t reach infinity. There is a limited amount of room on this sphere and everyone is beginning to realize it. Why then is the population still increasing. Couples still want to have that perfect little ringlet of existence that transforms their world into their kid’s worlds. But it is also because not everyone knows about this. Take Africa for example. Most parts and people of rural Africa have never even seen a TV or a newspaper. They don’t know what Myspace is, they probably don’t even know that white people still feel that they are superior to them. Our population grows today not just because of rural Africans but because of everyone that doesn’t and is blind to the fact that we are running out of room. We need to take action to stop this growth either by birth control or teaching abstinence or anything really that can educate people. It isn’t those peoples fault. It is our duty to help them understand so we can all exist on this planet as one.
Vanessa said it right. It’s not about the colors of our skin. We are all homo sapiens according to science. So let’s put boundaries behind us and start to work on how we use or resources and slow our population growth. I agree with Vanessa when she said it’s humans against earth. We won’t win that unless we do something. According to Newsweek 40% of North America’s rangeland and crops has turned to desert. There goes resources for us. And with new mouths to feed. It means less for everyone. We are digging a hole for ourselves. And there isn’t food in a chest that we are trying to dig up.
This article made me realize why I’m trying so hard to learn a second language, because when I’m 51 or 52 I will be able to communicate with the majorities. I find it interesting that I will be a minority in my lifetime although I’m not surprised. It will be interesting to see how that feels because as of right now I have always been in the majority. I totally believe that “the swelling numbers will transform Americans’ standard of living from the environment to public schools.” Starting with the environment, hopefully by 2042 we will have discovered an alternative energy source that everyone will be using and that the environment will be on the uphill climb. This is my current hope but it is possible that it won’t happen. This means that even though we are a minority at that point the problems with the environment will be blamed on us and that could cause us problems.
Moving on to public schools, students will no longer have just an English class but maybe Spanish class that has the same structure as a current English class. This is interesting because then we as the minorities will have to take Spanish as a second language instead of just Spanish. That would be way weird for all of us that grew up not speaking anything but English. This is just one possibility out of very many. Maybe everyone will just speak English by 2042 who knows. But it is my experience that people like speaking in their native tongue so we will see. There are endless possibilities of what could happen when the minorities become the majority and I am actually excited that I will be around to see it.
I think there will be a problem when this population isncreases so extremely. The fact is, tons of unwanted children are born all the time everywhere. They are put into orphaniges were they live horrible childhoods. I am not talking about just in the United States but in the whole world. Many do not have good morals because they were never loved or been taught to be kind. Many mentaly ill citizens live on the street because their families were unable to take care of them. We have many people in this world who live on the streets because perhaps they never got the same oppurtunities most of us recieved.
It is beautiful that political and war refugees are able to come to this free country anmd make something of themselves. The problem is when they don’t integrate themselves in our way of life. America is very different from the world. You cannot compare our lifestyle and our living conditions anywhere else. It is a very special place. But it is not easy to get used to this culture. It is hard to learn a new language. It is hard to make friends with people who consider you a minority.If one more million people will be in this country in 31 years, many of them from minority counties they will need to become Americans. America is a melting pot and that is beautiful. We should not have to learn spanish because so many are moving here. We should learn spanish because it is important to know other languages. I also don’t think we should see people as minorities. Here in America so much attention is given to people who don’t earn much money or the color of peopl’s skin. Let us just all be Americans. Let us not be rich or poor or dark or white. We are all on the same page here. Only when immigrants integrate themselves in our way of life could this extreme about of people be beneficial. If they don’t and if the mindset of Americans changes, then we have a problem.
Close the borders. I do not understand why this issue has not been addressed properly. This is America… a free country and full of opportunity. But this is a civilized country, and you must live by our laws or go back to your own country. If Mexicans feel like they want to live in American they must learn to speak our language, pay taxes and gain citizenship. Our tax money is paying for special programs in schools for Mexicans that can’t speak English, while we are giving checks to their parents who can’t feed their family, and many aren’t even contributing to the system by paying taxes themselves. Many hospitals near the Mexican border have gone bankrupt due to the illegals draining their profits by not paying for their healthcare and just looking for a handout. I would like to see the statistics on how much money the federal government is spending to help illegal aliens. Hispanic families in the U.S. also have a higher birth rate than the rest of the population. So not only are they flooding our country, but they are having more babies than every other ethnic group. We see the effects in China with its overpopulation, and we definitely do not want to reach that point here. Americans won’t be able to get jobs because we don’t speak Spanish. It already happened to my cousin, a college graduate that lives in Arizona. For every radio and TV station that is in English there will be one in Spanish. When we call a 1-800 number we will have to listen to the Spanish options first before we hear the English options. Don’t get me wrong we are all immigrants into this fine country, but we came here with the belief that we were now Americans. Bottom line, if you want to come to America then do as Americans do…speak English, pay taxes, and contribute to this fine country without breaking the laws and draining our financial resources.
In response to Michael:
A diffusion of population does not necessarily mean there is an increase in population. This article isn’t about birth control or out of control reproduction. It has to do with immigration rates
“And with new mouths to feed. It means less for everyone”
Michael, we’ve all seen you eat, and enough food for three people finds its’ way down that gullet. That aside, you seem like an unusually selfless person. So curiosity has naturally arisen, which leads me to ask, why has your cause, which you’re obviously so impassioned about, not yet driven you to self sacrifice. One less person means one less mouth to feed. YOU can make a real difference, Michael, and we’re all excited to see the changes you’re willing to make.
Ridiculous.
I have to say this article and the major issues on immigration tend to be a difficult problem to have a solution. As America, we are a “melting pot”, that welcomes the hands of other people into our free country. That is what I believe America has always stand for and I think it is something that we always should. As for the increase of minority and decrease of majority, I honestly believe it could be a real positive thing. It is estimated that in the year 2050 that non-hispanic whites will drop to 46% of the population. This could be a great lesson to learn that us put in the minority spot instead of thinking we rule this country.
However, I do not accept the fact of illegal immigration. I understand that many hispanic people are looking for a better life and the stories of their lives are heart-breaking, but illegal immigration is also used for the transportation of illegal drugs and crime into our country. I think that if you truley care about coming to America then you need to start out by following the rules. My father was born in Prince George, British Columbia and has done all the requirements to become a U.S. citizen, including waiting on the long list. My father has earned his rights as a U.S. citizen as well as keeping a dual citizenship to Canada.
In response to Micheal and Claudia:
I agree with Hilary when she points out that the problem of the increase of population, or atleast what this article is pointing out, does not have to do with the unwanted baby or a problem of over-production. I agree that this country is only so big and that there is a limit somewhere, but this article talks about immigration…you know the big issue in our current election. I agree that there is a large amount of babies that are born every year unwanted, but also there is a large amount of babies that are born who were wanted. Micheal people want babies, I dont know what you suggest, we could make everyone just have one baby and kill the rest like they did in China. Since you have an older brother, that would mean you would not be alive.
The color of our skin really shouldn’t matter, but the truth is that it does affect certain things. There are some certain things that will change.
On the political side of things, there will be some very expected changes. With the rise of more poverty stricken hispanic immigrants, there will certainly be a rise in the democratic party’s power. The poorer individuals of America tend to pick the democratic party because of its ability to spread the benefits from the rich to the poor. Poor benefit most from democrats so there will surely be a rise in democratic power.
On a completely different field, the most visible change (and in my opinion most interesting), will be seen in magazines. You’ll be able to see it on TV. Billboards. The radio. My friends, advertising is going to reach a huge turning point. The advertising agencies will start showing less and less of the ordinary and expected white models and more of the latino men and women. Style will drastically change to incorporate latin styles. Music will become a new music. I find ads so fascinating because they are a picture or 30 second clip of what we hope we can get.
They are a reflection of culture. Advertising is where you will see how culture is changing or has changed. I’m fascinated as to how hispanic culture will change our culture.
In response to Blake:
I completely disagree that we should close off our borders, denying many people the fair chance at a decent life. I know that it is scary to see our country’s resources being drained by people who either aren’t now, or weren’t originally, Americans, but why are we any more deserving than those immigrants? Just because we were lucky enough to be born into a country where freedoms are guaranteed and opportunities are everywhere, does that make us worthy of living a better life than the person who was born into poverty? I spent some time in Tijuana last summer and had the opportunity to visit a family in which the father was working in America on a visa. All that he wanted to do was give his kids a fair chance at life. Those kids were just like us. I know that it is easy to get stuck in the mind frame that we are Americans and that these resources and opportunities are ours and ours alone. Sometimes, we need to realize that the only reason most of use have everything that we do is the simple fact that we were fortunate enough to be born a few miles north of the Mexican border.
Well it looks like the minorities will no longer be “minorities” in 31 years. ONE MILLION EXTRA PEOPLE! And by this time we [being non-Hispanic whites] will only make up 46% percent of the population. That isn’t even half…obviously. Immigration has caused much controversy over religion, economic benefits, levels of criminality, values, work habits, job growth and so much more. The continuation of immigration will only make all this matters more complicated. The effects of immigration can be seen economically as well as socially. Economically some may say that immigrants produce a negative effect, focusing on the difference between taxes paid and government services received and wage-lowering among low-skilled native workers. On the other hand, productivity and lower costs to consumers for certain goods and services pose a different outlook on the situation. Of course these things are just to name a few. Socially, the less contact we have with these immigrants the more negatively we will think of them. Racism I feel with increase with the increase of immigration. This is because theories of power in society. Racial tension has been produced and will continue. Other controversies arise over health [high incidence of disease], environment [overpopulation], and education [cultural barriers/over-crowded schools making atmosphere difficult to learn in]. I think we need to keep in mind that America is an outlet, a beautiful place where people come in search of support and security. So maybe we should stop considering them to be minorities, after all they are taking over.
This whole minority and majority thing is stupid. People are just people!! Most of the world already knows English so it’s not even that big of a deal. However, they do have different customs and ways of living so that will be cool to see the United States being even more diverse. America is, for some reason, the place where everybody in every other country wants to be.
To go along with the customs, Americans will still have their values because that is how they were brought up, but as time goes on, ways change and traditions change. We will still be the United States of America because that is the country in which we live. With the public school situation, and the English class situation, English is the main language of this country and if people move to this country they need to accept the fact that they need to speak that language too.
On the contrary, it will be a little worse having so many more people in the United States, but we don’t need to look at it as a horrid thing. They are just people searching for themselves and trying to live the best life they can, and frankly I’m glad they think our country is so wonderful.
In response to Megan Barnes,
Obviously you did not read what I wrote and do not understand what my argument is. I do not have a problem with people coming into our country legally with visas, green cards, or to gain citizenship. There are an estimated sixteen million illegal immigrant living in the United States. That is more that five percent of our county that is not paying taxes but receiving the benefits of our country. All I ask is for the Mexicans who desire to come to America to become Americans….speak our language, pay our taxes and respect what it is that America stands for…. just like every other immigrant that has come to this country for generations.
I wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school… I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy…
Perhaps quoting mean girls isn’t entirely appropriate, but proves relevant nonetheless. When it comes down to the truth, we all can agree: all we really want, all really need is to bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and eat our way to equality, eat our way to bliss. Who needs English as a main language when our mouths are occupied with smiling rainbow cake? Furthermore, what’s cake without a sombrero? Can I get an ole from mis hermanos? The way I see it, the quality of life can only improve. I love sombreros, siestas, fiestas, nachos, burritos, and every aspect of Mexican culture… and if you ask me, the United States is in desperate need of a little culture, so bring it on!
Plus, once a community has consumed beans together, the window of our souls is unleashed. Once the beans are spilt, you can literally smell the fear upon your comrade. Lovely? I think yes.
In conclusion, bring on the minority- lets spice it up.
In response to Blake,
I agree. What makes it America is that we are all Americans. How can people expect to have the same rights and privlages that we have if they don’t follow the rules that we all follow. what makes them above the law?
The more people we have, the lower the standard of living will be. Already overpopulated areas will be even more overpopulated. It seems to me that this will end up being a total disaster.
The only positive ramification i see is that it could possibly be good for us as a country in the long run. As we have seen in China, huge populations can really boost an economy to the top.