Early Census Data Shows a ‘White Decline’

It may be difficult to recall along with all of the other things that happened last year, but at some point in 2020 there was a census and, according to the Washington Post, the first batch of race and ethnicity breakdowns have been released. The data suggests that for the first time in the history of the census, there has been a decrease in the number of people who identify as white. “The White population fell from 223.6 million in 2010 to 204.3 million in 2020, a decrease of 8.6 percent,” the Post reports. Conversely, the number of respondents who identified as multicultural went up by 276% in comparison to the numbers from the 2010 census.

According to a demographer who spoke to the Post, the surprising decline in white people can be attributed to the opioid epidemic and “lower-than-anticipated birth rates among millennials after the Great Recession.” Just a friendly reminder that millennials are responsible for anything and everything, and the previous generations who actually caused the recession just get to skate on through life.

The data also shows that the “largest and most steady” gains were in the “Hispanic” community who over the last three decades saw a population growth of 18.7% for a total of 62.1 million people in the United States. While millennials in this demographic also had lower than anticipated birth rates, some of this increase can be attributed to population growth in Western and Southern states, which saw “an influx of people moving in from other countries and other states.”

While this may seem as if the country is headed in the direction of being dominated by minorities, the census website clearly shows that the “white alone, not Hispanic or Latino” category still represents the largest racial or ethnic group in the country, with a population of over 191 million. The second largest is “Hispanic or Latino,” with a population of over 62 million. I guess all those pandemic-baby baby showers on my Instagram feed didn’t make too much of a dent in the headcount.