Minority Births Now Majority

Dennis Cauchon and Paul Overberg report on many of the new findings from the Census Bureau that illustrate how the U.S. is becoming a nation of minorities, though not uniformly across the country. Eleven percent of the nation's counties are 'majority minorities'. States that are the whitest are also among the oldest in median age.

"Hispanics, blacks, Asians and other minorities in 2011 accounted for 50.4% of births, 49.7% of all children under 5 and slightly more than half of the 4 million kids under 1, the Census Bureau reports today."

Birth rates dropped for minorities last year, though less than for non-Hispanic whites.

Among the findings from the Census Bureau Newsroom:

"Maine had a higher median age than any other state (43.2), with Utah having the lowest median age (29.5). Florida had the highest percentage of its population 65 and older (17.6 percent), followed by Maine (16.3 percent). Utah had the highest percentage of its total population younger than 5 (9.3 percent)."

"Nationally, the most populous minority group remains Hispanics, who numbered 52 million in 2011; they also were the fastest growing, with their population increasing by 3.1 percent since 2010. This boosted the Hispanic share of the nation's total population to 16.7 percent in 2011, up from 16.3 percent in 2010."

The New York Times explained the cultural significance of the Census release: "Such a turn has been long expected, but no one was certain when the moment would arrive - signaling a milestone for a nation whose government was founded by white Europeans and has wrestled mightily with issues of race, from the days of slavery, through a civil war, bitter civil rights battles and, most recently, highly charged debates over efforts to restrict immigration."