US whites 'to be minority sooner'

White people are projected to no longer be in the majority in the United States by the year 2042 - eight years sooner than previous projections. 

The US Census Bureau's latest figures - based on birth, death and immigration rates - suggest that minorities will soon make up 55% of the population. 

Hispanics who now make up about 15% will, it says, account for 30% by 2050. 

It is projected that black people will make up 15%, a small increase, while Asians will grow from 4% to 9%. 

White non-Hispanics currently make up about two-thirds of the population, but only 55% of those are aged under five. 

'Aging baby boomers' 

It has long been said that the US is a nation of immigrants but in the past the influx has mainly come from white Europeans, the BBC's Jonathan Beale reports from Washington. 

By the middle of this century, that group will be in the minority for the first time, he notes. 

It is likely that the demographic changes will be experienced right across the country - and no longer confined to urban areas as in the past. 

Overall, the US population is expected to rise from 305 million people to 439 million by the year 2050. 

The white population will also be ageing. The number of people over 85 years old will triple in the next 40 years. 

"The white population is older and very much centred around the aging baby boomers who are well past their high fertility years," William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution think tank, told the Associated Press. 

"The future of America is epitomised by the young people today. They are basically the melting pot we are going to see in the future." continues here

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