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

Poll reveals America is still divided over race relations as country gears up for election

Sixty per cent of black Americans think race relations are still bad in the United States more than 40 years after their struggle for equal rights gained worldwide prominence, it emerged yesterday.

The results of a poll showing America is still sharply divided by the issue came as it gears up for an election that could put the first black president into the White House.

While the majority of blacks and whites believe the country is ready for a black leader, the consensus ends there.

Each group holds vastly different views on Democratic Senator Barack Obama and the state of America's race relations. 

The survey for the New York Times and television station CBS News revealed that 83 per cent of blacks had a favourable opinion of Obama, compared to just 31 per cent of white people. 

Asked if race relations were generally bad, almost 60 per cent of blacks said yes, compared to 34 per cent of whites. 

Those figures have not changed since a similar survey eight years ago revealed that few Americans experienced integrated workplaces and neighbourhoods or had regular contact with people from other races. 

Obama, 46, the son of a black Kenyan man and white mother, has fired up an enthusiasm for politics not seen since the Sixties. 

Dubbed the black John Kennedy, he faces Arizona Republican Senator John McCain in the election on November 4. 

Two-thirds of all those polled said they believe America is ready for a black president and overall 31 per cent said they thought race relations would improve if Obama was elected. 

But almost 40 per cent of blacks said there had been little progress in getting rid of racial discrimination in recent years, while just 17 per cent of whites agreed. 

Meanwhile, just over 25 per cent of whites said too much had been made about problems facing black people, while 50 per cent of blacks said not enough had been done to bring down racial barriers. continues here