US census: America – less white for the first time

58 percent of the US population describe themselves as white according to the US census. That is 8.6 percent less than ten years ago. The proportion of people with Hispanic or Asian roots has increased.

The US population has been counted every ten years since 1790. This time a lot is different: Not only because the data collection in 2020 was particularly complicated due to the corona pandemic. But because of the results. For the first time ever, the number of people who describe themselves as “white” in the questionnaire without any other roots has decreased. They now make up just under 58 percent of the population.

In contrast, the number of people with Hispanic roots rose: the USA now owes half of the total growth to them – even if this growth has slowed overall. The number of Americans of Asian descent and black also grew. One reason for the postponement: White American women have fewer and later children.

More Americans are “multiracial”

Another important reason: More and more US citizens no longer want to assign themselves to a single ethnic group and ticked “different” on the questionnaire, explains Nicholas Jones of the US Census Bureau:

The decline in the all-white population of 8.6 percent was offset by the increase in those who describe themselves as “multiracial”. The group grew by 300 percent.

The US population is not only significantly more diverse than it was ten years ago. It is also older: those over 18 now make up over three quarters, ten percent more than ten years ago. Another trend is also emerging: districts that already had fewer than 50,000 inhabitants are continuing to shrink. And the big cities and metropolitan regions are growing, especially in the south. The data from the census has an impact on the lives of all residents of the country, according to Ron Jarmin, the acting director of the census agency:

Local politicians are using this data to decide where roads and hospitals will be built, and how best to help the country weather the pandemic. But the results are also used to decide how tax money will be distributed and spent over the next ten years.

“The future of this country is Latino”

The data also play an enormous political role: Because some states are now losing congressional seats, while others are getting some. Texas, for example, is getting two more seats, largely thanks to the growth in the Latino population.

“The future of this country is Latino. Now we have to make sure that the new constituencies also reflect that, especially the growth of the Latino population, including in the big US cities,” says Arturo Vargas, head of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, “an advocacy group for Hispanic politicians.

What the census has to do with the constituencies

Vargas’ appeal is no accident. Because in the USA the politicians draw the boundaries of their constituencies themselves – often in such a way that they guarantee the re-election of a candidate from their own party if possible. This practice, the so-called “gerrymandering”, is very controversial: “The politicians can basically choose their voters. If they don’t suit them, they simply assign them to another district,” complains Michael Goff, member of the board of the electoral organization “Common Cause”. “This is how they create safe seats.”

The organization therefore calls for the electoral districts to be cut to an independent organization. That is unlikely to happen by the mid-term elections next year. And that’s where the census data should help the Republicans in particular: Because most of the new constituencies are being built in states where they have a majority and can draw the lines.