Abstract

This brief documents how unfolding demographic forces have placed today’s children and youth at the forefront of America’s new racial and ethnic diversity. Authors Kenneth M. Johnson, Andrew Schaefer, Daniel T. Lichter, and Luke T. Rogers discuss how the rapidly changing racial and ethnic composition of the youth population has important implications for intergroup relations, ethnic identities, and electoral politics. They report that diversity is increasing among America’s youth because there are more minority children and fewer non-Hispanic white children. Minority births exceeded non-Hispanic white births for the first time in U.S. history in 2011 according to Census Bureau estimates. Both the declining number of non-Hispanic white women of prime child-bearing and growing numbers of minority women contributed to this change as did differential fertility rates. The largest gains in child diversity between 2000 and 2012 were in suburban and smaller metropolitan areas. Yet, child diversity is geographically uneven, with minimal diversity in some areas of the country and significant diversity in other areas. They conclude that natural population increase—particularly fertility rates—will continue to reshape the racial and ethnic mix of the country, and this change will be reflected first among the nation’s youngest residents.

Publication Date

4-22-2014

Series

National Issue Brief No. 71

Publisher

Durham, N.H. : Carsey Institute, University of New Hampshire

Document Type

Article

Rights

Copyright 2014. The Carsey Institute. These materials may be used for the purposes of research, teaching, and private study. For all other uses, contact the copyright holder.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.34051/p/2020.212

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.