Nonwhite youth population growing in California and nation, report finds

The demographic picture of children in California and nationwide is changing dramatically, as nonwhites accounted for all the growth in the youth population from 2000 to 2010, according to a report released Wednesday by the Brookings Institution.

The study authored by William Frey used new data from the 2010 U.S. Census to find the nationwide population of white children declined by 4.3 million, while Asian and Latino children grew by 5.5 million.

“It’s an old story for Los Angeles, but it’s a new story for most of the rest of the country,” Frey said Wednesday. “California and Los Angeles are on the front lines of this.”

Frey said the new trends could be useful for school systems and policymakers who need to provide services for different youth populations and who need to “bridge the divide between older white residents who don’t see the needs of some of those younger more diverse populations.”

He said California and the greater Los Angeles area would likely be looked to as “guideposts” in how to best readjust to the demographic shifts because the issue is not as fresh in the state.

Another finding from the study was that 10 states and 35 metropolitan areas, including California and the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area, have minority white children populations.

In California, 27% of all children are white, 6% are black, and 51% are Latino.

In the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area, 21% of children are white, 58% are Latino and 6% are black, the study showed.

The population of children in California grew by less than 5% over the last decade, and among areas of the country gaining children, Los Angeles was the only major city to witness a decline in Latino youth.

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-- Ari Bloomekatz

Photo: Students at John C. Fremont school in Long Beach raise their hands while United States Secretary of Health And Human Services Kathleen Sebelius visits the campus to talk about healthy food choices on Oct. 12. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Common Sense]

In the not-too-distant future, these ethnic identification schemes will become irrelevant. Among Hispanics, 30% marry outside the ethnicity (mostly to non-Hispanic whites), and among self-identified Hispanics, a significant component is racially caucasion (which after cultural assimilation in the U.S.) renders them generic whites in due course. I am American of Mexican heritage, but on my U.S. Census form, I identified myself as "U.S. Citizen" - period.

I so hate these ethnic labels, and the unhealthly fascination that government bureaucrats have with this.

[Native Angeleno]

CHANGE IS GOOD. AND inevitable. Embrace it, or suffer reality.

[Ensenada Expat]

So, just as our ancestors came to these United States from England and then Europe for a better life, people from Mexico, South America and Asia now come here to become the new minorities. The Republican Party has been showing its distaste for these minorities for quite a while. It now wants to defund Planned Parenthood. We older WASP women of the Democratic Party are quietly delighted that the Republicans are laying the ground for a Democratic majority for the next generation. Viva the the bigoted ultraconservatives. LOL.

[gatorman2go]

I have a hard time seeing how this can possibly be good for the United States?

[Beast]

And the further degradation of America and California continues.

@Ensenada,

I hate to burst your bubble, but you should realize that Democrats are unable to do math, and clearly you fit in that category. There is nothing bigoted about poverty, when you cannot pay for something, you just cannot manage it. How do you pay your bills I wonder? You voted for one of your own Latinos for mayor of Los Angeles, and look at the mess he made. Great job.

@Native Angeleno,

Change is good when it's for the better, and clearly this is not. Statistics prove this, that those kids coming over our Southern Border perform MUCH worse than other kids. Crime is also higher among these kids, their career development and outcome is much lower, I am not sure what kind of GOOD you're referring to.

[Jon K.]

I think those who politicize ethnicity for the sake of power are just plain evil. I don't care if you are Liberal or Conservative, if you attempt to convince an individual that simply by their ethnic group they are supposed to think... and vote... a certain way, then you are a bad person who does not believe in the core principles that made this nation great.

[misanthropicus]

A third world country has the USA became - and looks more and that Ponarev's projections (the secession of the US in three polities) is closer than it appears - -
Bye-bye - I leave vodoo, "special necessities" children, incompetence and corruption to the NA-PRI (i.e. Democrat party) dominated south area of America, and regale in the prosperity & industriousness imbued North -

This is how it was along history, this is how it will be in the future -

[westside episcopalian]

"The Republican Party has been showing its distaste for these minorities for quite a while. It now wants to defund Planned Parenthood." I don't get it. De-funding Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger's legacy of eugenics targeting minorities, is hardly showing disdain for minorities. If anything it shows disdain for the wishes of elderly self-identified WASPS, Republican and Democrat alike. Learn to love your multi-ethnic, multi-racial grandchildren that make it past Planned Parenthood.

[gatorman2go]

I have a great idea....let L.A. become Tiuajuana, and then we will really be on track for an economic recovery!

[Patricia]

This is the demographic that the police target the most heavily for marijuana enforcement. So we'd better prepare for the police to ask for a lot more money.

[maandrews]

Unchecked Illegal Immigration is the driving force for this demographic tsunami. Countries with a stable population growth do not face the financial, ethnic and social problems that have already turned California into a bankrupt dystopia in decline!

[stickball]

Great...

[Gib]

So very curious how there seems to be increasing racial diversity and how by 2050, they say only 50% of the US will be white (maybe less, I don't remember the exact statistic). And at the same time, the Good Ole' Boys in Congress keep cutting education and shaving off the Middle Class. If so many lack education beyond basic high school, how can they hope to get jobs that take them out of the Lower Class or avoid being duped by politicians' propaganda? It won't do much for our country if, hypothetically, most of the U.S. consists of uneducated, lower-class ethnics.

Almost as if....the men in power don't want the minorities to have a chance competing the future.

[THINK123]

Not Good.

[Cyber Bully]

As long as people do the right thing, immigrated legally and chose books over babies, we should not have a problem. Ironically, if minorities tend to have lower median income and wealth, why are they having so many children? It is very expensive and certainly not an investment! Babies over books? Does not work in the USA! The lowering of standards in our education system will continue! Sad! Third World Cali!

[AB]

Common Sense, your answer is, well, common sense. Glad I'm not the only one irritated with our lingering fascination with racial/ethnic labels.

Let's all be Americans and call it good. That doesn't mean forget your heritage, but it means putting your new home and your new identity first.

[John]

hopefully they can be taught to be considerate people that value education and respect for others. most of those on my daily bus ride do not display these characteristics.

[Jamesvic]

Who cares about the race of these growing populations? The real question is do we need these growing populations?

The need for unskilled labor has gone down for years- but the populations continue to rise. Today, to have a middle class lifestyle of an american in the 1950's one must have at least a masters degree. They must get 18+ years of schooling- with all those resources going into having one productive worker- how can we progress with this huge amount of uneducated workers.

The latest studies show that countries with lower populations (denemark)are much happier than ones with huge populations (India, china). Lower populationed countries have more human rights and less exploitation by the wealthy.

So why celebrate this population swell? I don't get it.

[K.Scott]

Those children look happy and super cute! Let's help them become better people than we are. No color lines.

[boochie]

As California becomes a 3rd World state so goes the rest of the country.

[Al Reader]

So non-White children are now the minority? So they are now entitled to the same reduced admission test scores and government mandated set-asides as the other minority groups received previously, correct?

[Pedro Postal]

Identity politics and the obsession by liberal politicians , academia and the media with race/ethnicity cause more division amongst us than good. One should ask "At what price is this Utopia being achieved ? "

[Verbalocity]

As more hispanics enter into the US and become the majority, the US will look more like Mexico than the US. Whether or not that's a good thing, is up for discussion.

[Joshua Busch]

Two points:

-The picture linked to this article on the front-page of the LA Times website (not the one above) was taken from a recent Townhall with the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, at Fremont High School. At the meeting there were hundreds of high school students from across South LA in attendance, at 6pm on a Tuesday night, to voice their concerns about educational opportunities in their community. It's shame that this context, and their admirable dedication and leadership, was lost by randomly linking a picture of "non-white" kids to this article.

-Secondly, the term "non-white" is simply an unfortunate way to describe growth with this population. In emphasizes a supposed deficit (i.e. you're not white), as opposed to describing the group. While there may be no perfect term, People of Color (or in this case children of color), I'd argue is preferable. "Non-white" connotes a Eurocentric perspective on the world.

[Yoga Gurl]

When people are given money to have babies, as we do with so many Latinos and others...they will have more children. When you have to pay for them yourselves, you have less because you have to work harder and sacrifice more.