Hispanic Population Up 10 Pct. Since 2000

WASHINGTON (AP) June 18, 2004 - The Hispanic population grew at nearly four times the rate of the U.S. population overall over the past two years, cementing Hispanics' position as the nation's largest minority group, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

Hispanics numbered 38.8 million as of July 2002, an increase of nearly 10 percent or 3.5 million since April 2000, census estimates show. The national population rose 2.5 percent during the same period to over 288 million.

The non-Hispanic black population rose 3 percent in the 27-month span to 36.6 million. Hispanics passed non-Hispanic blacks in size in 2001.

Non-Hispanic Asians were the next largest minority at 12.7 million, or 4 percent of U.S. residents. That population grew 9 percent over the 27-month span.

The federal government considers "Hispanic'' an ethnicity, not a race, so people of Hispanic ethnicity can classify themselves as any race.

The Census report on the rapidly growing Hispanic population "confirms what communities across the country have been witnessing for awhile,'' said Gabriela Lemus, director of policy and legislation for the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Lemus said she hoped that Hispanic advocacy groups would use the opportunity to renew outreach efforts especially in small towns and rural areas across the South and Midwest. Many places that did not have large Hispanic populations before the 1990s struggled to deal with the needs of recent immigrants with limited English skills.

It's a mistake, though, for Hispanics to view the demographic shift as a contest, said Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, a research organization. Politically, Hispanics trail blacks in clout because a larger number of Hispanics are undocumented or younger than 18 and therefore cannot vote, he said.

"The census numbers have a way of rendering things official,'' Suro said. Still, he added, "This is not at all a measure of the power and influence between the two populations.''

Non-Hispanic whites, who make up about 7 of 10 U.S. residents, remain the largest single group at roughly 200 million. That population grew by less than 1 percent between April 2000 and July 2002.

Meanwhile, Hispanics comprise 13.5 percent of the total population, and non-Hispanic blacks were 12.7 percent.

The 2000 head count showed the Hispanic population more than doubling during the 1990s, and analysts said it was spurred in large part by immigrants seeking jobs.

The latest population estimates were to be announced Wednesday by Census Bureau director Louis Kincannon at a League of United Latin American Citizens convention in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

The bureau also released a report with more detailed demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of Hispanics. Among findings about Hispanics in the United States:

--Two-thirds are of Mexican descent.

--One-third are younger than 18, compared with about one-fifth of non-Hispanic whites.

--Two in five were born outside the country.

--About two in five Hispanics age 25 and older have not graduated from high school. Those of Puerto Rican and Cuban backgrounds were more likely to have a high school degree than Mexicans.

--Their poverty rate of 21 percent was nearly three times greater than that of non-Hispanic whites.

Advocates hoped the demographic shift would help draw blacks and Hispanics closer in terms of social and political clout, instead of driving a wedge between the two groups. Collectively, both groups share many of the same socio-economic problems, said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau.

Tabulating population data by race and ethnicity is something of an inexact science because of the way the government categorizes people. The process became even more confusing in 2000 after the Census Bureau allowed people to identify themselves by more than one race.

About 1.7 million people in July 2002 were identified by the government as black and Hispanic, while 36.3 million said they were white and Hispanic.

The Associated Press has used the non-Hispanic population figures for blacks and whites since data from the 2000 census was released in April 2001. The figures include those of one or more races.

No state or local data were released in the latest bureau report.

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Race and ethnic breakdowns of the U.S. population as of July 2002, and the population change between April 2000 and July 2002, according to the Census Bureau. The federal government considers "Hispanic'' an ethnicity, not a race, so people of Hispanic ethnicity can be of any race. Figures for race groups refer to those who are not Hispanic, and who are one or more racial backgrounds. Individual categories do not add up to the total U.S. population because citizens may list more than one race on Census forms.