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WASHINGTON Minorities make up nearly half the children born in the U.S., part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 40 years.
In fact, demographers say this year could be the tipping point when the number of babies born to minorities outnumbers that of babies born to whites.
The numbers are growing because immigration to the U.S. has boosted the number of Hispanic women in their prime childbearing years. Minorities made up 48 percent of U.S. children born in 2008, the latest census estimates available, compared to 37 percent in 1990.
More Minority Babies Will Be Born Than White Babies This Year | News One
"Most parts of the country are now totally dependent on minorities for achieving growth in their young adult and child populations," said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, citing the low birth rates among whites as well as the aging white baby boomer population.
"Minorities are especially important for current and future labor force gains in all but the most rapidly growing parts of the country," he said.
Census: Multiracial US becoming even more diverse