FOR the first time, racial and ethnic minorities make up more than half the children born in the US, capping decades of heady immigration growth that is now slowing.
New 2011 census estimates highlight sweeping changes in America's racial make-up and the prolonged impact of a weak economy, which is resulting in fewer Hispanics entering the US. "This is an important landmark,'' said Roderick Harrison, a former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau, who is now a sociologist at Howard University. ''This generation is growing up much more accustomed to diversity than its elders."
The report comes as the US Supreme Court prepares to rule on the legality of Arizona's strict immigration law, with many states weighing similar get-tough measures.
"We remain in a dangerous period where those appealing to anti-immigration elements are fuelling a divisiveness and hostility that might take decades to overcome," Harrison said.
As a whole, the minority population in the US continues to rise, following a higher-than-expected Hispanic count in the 2010 census. Minorities increased 1.9 per cent to 114.1 million, or 36.6 per cent of the total US population, lifted by previous waves of immigration that brought in young families and boosted the number of Hispanic women of child-bearing age.
But a recent slowdown in the growth of the Hispanic and Asian populations is shifting notions on when the tipping point in US diversity will come - the time when non-Hispanic whites become a minority. After 2010 census results suggested a crossover as early as 2040, demographers now believe the pivotal moment may be pushed back several years.
Read More: Minorities make up majority of US births
