The U.S. Census Bureau released the 2020 results Thursday revealing that the white population in the country declined by 8.6%, the largest decrease of the white population in history.
“We are excited to reach this milestone of delivering the first detailed statistics from the 2020 Census,” said acting Census Bureau Director Ron Jarmin. “We appreciate the public’s patience as Census Bureau staff worked diligently to process these data and ensure it meets our quality standards.” (RELATED: Trump Appointees Pressure Census Bureau For Statistics On Illegal Immigrants)
“Our analysis of the 2020 Census results show that the U.S. population is much more multiracial and more racially and ethnically diverse than what we measured in the past.” – Nicholas Jones, Director of Race Ethnicity Research and Outreach
— U.S. Census Bureau (@uscensusbureau) August 12, 2021
The white population in the country is still the largest race or ethnicity group with 204.3 million people identifying as “white alone.” Overall, a total of 235.4 million people identified white or in combination with another group, the Census Bureau reported. The “white alone” population decreased by 8.6% since 2010, comprising 61.6% of the country’s population.
More than half of the population growth – 51.1% – came from the country’s Hispanic or Latino population, the Census Bureau said. The Hispanic or Latino population grew to 62.1 million people in 2020. The black population increased to 46.9 million people, which was the third highest race or ethnic group, according to the U.S. Census. The Asian alone population represented the next largest racial population with 24 million. The remainder of the groups broke down as: American Indian and Alaska Native alone or in combination group with 9.7 million, and the Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone or in combination group with 1.6 million.
The “Two or More Races” population increased 276%, from 9 million people in 2010 to 33.8 million people in 2020, the Census Bureau reported.
The country’s cities experienced population growth as the population in rural areas declined since 2010. “Population growth was almost entirely in metropolitan areas,” said Mark Perry of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Overall, the country’s population experienced the second slowest period of growth since the Great Depression. The population grew just 7.4% since the last census in 2010, the Census Bureau reported. Only the 1930s had less growth.