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Between 1980 and 2015, the percentage of children in the United States who are Hispanic nearly tripled, from 9 to 25 percent. Their share is projected to increase to more than one-quarter (26 percent) of the child population by 2020.

Importance

The United States has a long history of ethnic and racial diversity in its population. That diversity has accelerated in recent decades, a trend which is expected to continue into the future.

Race and ethnicity have important implications for culture, identity, and well-being. Children of different races and ethnicities often show large discrepancies in well-being, including health, mortality, school performance and attainment, and access to family and community resources.[1]
These and other disparities are also evident in adulthood.[2]

According to the National Research Council, race is a social category determined both by genetically transmitted physical markers (skin color, hair texture, and so on), and by the “individual, group, and social attributes” associated with those characteristics. Race is distinguished from “ethnicity,” which does not include physical characteristics as part of its definition.[3]

Over time, the federal government has changed the way it defines and measures race. All race and ethnicity information is now based on individuals’ self-report (or, in the case of children, that of their parent or other responsible adult). However, current Census Bureau revisions allow survey respondents to identify themselves as being of more than one race. Additionally, ethnicity has been defined as an attribute distinct from race. Thus, individuals with Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be of any race. This new classification was first used in 2000, and has since been implemented in all federal surveys and administrative data collection efforts.[4] However, labels for race and ethnicity remain controversial, and there are further changes expected in the options that will be offered in the 2020 Decennial Census.

Trends

From 1980 to 2000, the proportion of non-Hispanic white children in the U.S. population fell from 74 to 62 percent. (Appendix 1)
Between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of children who were non-Hispanic white only (following the new classification system used in the 2000 decennial census, in which respondents were given the option of identifying with multiple race categories) declined from 61 to 54 percent, and is projected to decline to 50 percent by 2020. (Figure 1)

The percentage of the child population that is non-Hispanic black has stayed relatively constant, at about 15 percent since 1980, and it is expected to decline only slightly, to 14 percent, by 2020. However, because of changes in the race categories used by the Census Bureau, estimates for 2000 and later years are not directly comparable with earlier estimates. (Figure 1)

The proportion of children who are ethnically Hispanic has been growing steadily, from 9 percent in 1980 to 25 percent in 2015, and is projected to be 26 percent in 2020. (Figure 2) In 2010, 68 percent of Hispanic children were of Mexican origin, which was 16 percent of the total child population. Nine percent of Hispanic children in the U.S. were of Puerto Rican origin, six percent had a Central American origin (mainly Salvadoran, at 2.5 percent, and Guatemalan, at 1.6 percent), and four percent had a South American origin (the largest group being Colombian, at 1.2 percent). Other large Hispanic groups include Dominicans and Cubans (each accounting for two percent of Hispanic children). (Appendix 3)

Among Asians, the largest origin groups in 2010 were Asian Indians alone (21 percent of Asian children), Chinese (20 percent), Filipinos (15 percent), Vietnamese (12 percent), and Koreans (9 percent). About six percent of children who were Asian-alone were of mixed ancestry.
(Appendix 3)

According to data from the 2010 Census, non-Hispanic children of more than one race constituted roughly four percent of the child population, an increase of two percent compared with the 2000 census. (Figure 1) Among all children who were identified as being of more than one race, the majority (four percent of all children) were white combined with one other race, with two percent identified as white and black, one percent identified as white and Asian, and 0.6 percent as white and American Indian or Alaska Native. (Appendix 2)

State and Local Estimates

State-level child population estimates from 2000 through 2015 by race and Hispanic origin are available from the KidsCount Datacenter.

Estimates from the American Community Survey are
available for states, counties, congressional districts, metropolitan areas,
cities, and census tracts from the Census Bureau.

International Estimates

None available.

Related Indicators

• Number of Children
• Fertility and Birth Rates
• Immigrant Children

Data Sources

Data for 2015: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division (2016) Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex, Age, Race, and Hispanic Origin for the United States and States: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015. Available at: http://www.census.gov/popest/data/national/asrh/2015/index.html.

Data for 1980-2015 and projections: Federal Interagency Forum on
Child and Family Statistics. (2016). America’s Children: Key National
Indicators of Well-Being, 2016, Tables POP1 and POP3. Federal Interagency
Forum on Child and Family Statistics, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing
Office. http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/tables.asp

Data on multiple races for 2000: Unpublished estimates from the
2000 Census, produced by the Population Reference Bureau.

Data on multiple races and ethnicities for 2010: Table QT-P1: Age
Groups and Sex. 2010 Census Summary File 2. Available on American Factfinder
at: http://factfinder2.census.gov

Raw Data Source

All estimates in Table 1 are from the Census
Bureau’s Population Projections and Estimates Branch, based on models that draw
on many data sources.

Estimates based on the 1990 Census are available
from the Census Bureau at http://www.census.gov/popest/data/historical/1990s/index.html

All estimates in Appendices 2 and 3 are from the
2000 and 2010 Decennial Censuses.

http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html
(2000 Census)

http://www.census.gov/2010census/
(2010 Census)

Appendix 2 – Number and Percentage of Single- and Multi-Race Children Under Age 18: 2000 & 2010

Appendix 3: Number and Percentage of Children Under Age 18 with Asian or Hispanic Origins, by Country of Origin: 2010

Suggested Citation:

Child Trends Databank. (2014). Racial and ethnic composition of the child population. Available at: https://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=racial-and-ethnic-composition-of-the-child-population