The Census Bureau has released data that for the first time in U.S. history more than half of all babies born last year were members of minority groups. Hispanics, blacks, Asians and othr minorities in 2011 accounted for 50.4% of births, 49.7% of all children under 5 and slightly more than half of the 4 million children under 1 year old.
While minorities had 5.9% fewer children last year than in 2010, births among non-Hispanic whites fell 10.1%. The nation’s largest minority group -Hispanics, the median age is 27.6. For whites, it’s 42.3 and for Blacks 30.9.
The population of children under 18 shrunk by a quarter million last year – the same amount as the over-85 population increased.
Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire are the oldest and whitest states. Utah and Texas are the youngest.
The growth of the nation’s diversity has huge implications for education. The growth of school-age Hispanic children, especially those about to enter kindergarten, poses a big challenge. Most states vote on school budgets and with the growth of an aging white population, and the shrinking of under 18-year-old population, state funding for schools will be facing huge challenges. There may be a greater need to provide ESL classes as well as teachers who have the ability to speak Spanish.