Minority population, spending continue to rise
By Kay Anderson -- Kids Today, 2/1/2006
High Point— America's crazy quilt of varied cultural backgrounds has grown more diverse in recent decades and promises to become more so in the near future. In a seeming contradiction of terms, demographers have now declared four states "majority minority"; that is, a majority of their population belongs to a minority group. Falling into this category, according to the Census Bureau, are Texas, Hawaii, New Mexico and California, along with the District of Columbia. Five states — Maryland, Mississippi, Georgia, New York and Arizona — are next in line with minority populations of about 40%.
The population of minority kids is growing at an even faster rate than the population as a whole. This is due, in part, to the high rate of immigration among people in their prime child-bearing years, particularly Hispanics. The birth rate for Hispanic mothers has been higher than for other ethnic groups for several years. In 2004, the most recent year for which data are available, 44% of mothers belonged to a minority group.
Buying power for minorities is increasing rapidly, too. Already a potent force in the marketplace, minorities accounted for $2 trillion in spending last year according to estimates made by the Terry College of Business of the University of Georgia. Terry College's Jeffrey M. Humphreys predicts that by 2010 the buying power of blacks and Hispanics in the U.S. will exceed the GDP of Canada, the ninth largest economy in the world.
