The United States 2020 census which came out on Thursday, August 12, has shown what many actions and controversies in America have hinted at: all population growth over the last five years has been from people of color.
According to the Associated Press and the Washington Post, the number of white people in the U.S. has fallen below 60 percent for the first time in census-taking history. The population of those under age 18 is also predicted to now be majority non-white.
This diminished number of white Americans is expected to have occurred across 26 states. Whites will only account for more than 50 percent of growth in just five states and Washington, D.C., the census report noted.
Hispanic and Asian populations are believed to be behind much of the country’s population growth, while Black Americans remain steady at 12.5 percent. The estimations are based on annual updates from the U.S. Census Bureau based on the 2010 data.
The exact figures for the 2020 Census are not yet known.
Once confirmed by the data, the decline in the white population comes roughly eight years earlier than predicted, according to Brookings Institution demographer William Frey.
“Twenty years ago if you told people this was going to be the case, they wouldn’t have believed you,” he said. “This country is changing dramatically.”
The opioid epidemic and the lower number of millennials having children are contributors that have accelerated the decline, according to Frey.
His final assessment, which would explain all the white foolery happening more and more each day, states that the white population could fall below 50 percent by 2045.
For the first time in census history, the numbers will appear inaccurate at the smallest geographic levels due to a new privacy method used by the Census Bureau. This method inserts controlled errors into the data such as neighborhood blocks, in order to protect people’s identities in an era of Big Data. Acting Census Bureau Director Ron Jarmin has warned that the process may produce weird results, such as blocks showing children living with no adults or housing units not matching the number of people living there.
