NYT: The 2020 census shows America is changing
Maria Medrano Armington
Bilingual. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Specialist. Corporate Trainer, Facilitator, and Executive Coach
Aug. 13, 2021 - A summary)
The USA population is getting more diverse, according to new data from the 2020 census that offers a once-in-a-decade look at the makeup of America.
Over the past 10 years, people who identified as
Hispanic, Asian or more than one race accounted for larger shares of the
population, the data shows. Diversity is rising in almost every county. The
overall U.S. population, though, grew at the slowest rate in nearly a century.
?
William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, described the data as “a pivotal moment for the country.”
?
“We have people of color who are younger and growing
more rapidly,” he told The Times’s?Sabrina Tavernise and Robert Gebeloff.
“They are helping to propel us further into a century where diversity is going
to be the signature of our demography.”
?
New demographics
?
The share of people who identify as white has been
declining since the 1960s, when the U.S. opened up more widely to immigrants
from outside Europe. But over the past decade, the total number of white people
fell for the first time.
?
The total population has grown at a drastically
slower rate over the past decade...? Slower
population growth can expand economic opportunities for women. But it also
reflects American society’s failure to support families.
?
The growth that did occur since 2010 — an increase of
about 23 million people — was made up entirely of people who identified as
Hispanic, Asian, Black or more than one race.
领英推荐
?
The multiracial category, added to the census only 20
years ago, is the fastest-growing group in the U.S. That could account for some
of the decline of the white population, social scientists say; people of more than
one race who previously chose white on the census form can now answer more
accurately.
?
NYC grew by nearly 8%. The city now accounts for
nearly 44% of the state’s total population.
?Political consequences
?
The new census data will launch?an intense
scramble?to redraw districts for the House of Representatives, which
states do once per decade. Legislatures control redistricting in most states
and can draw gerrymandered congressional maps that advantage their party, which
will help determine who will win control of the House in next year’s midterm
elections.
?
The data was less favorable to Republicans than some
experts expected. Rural areas and white people’s share of the population
shrank, while traditionally Democratic cities and increasingly Democratic
suburbs grew.
?
But Republican-controlled legislatures will still get
to redraw 187 maps, compared to Democrats’ 84. “The parties do not compete on a
level playing field,” our colleague Nick Corasaniti, who covers politics, told
us. “While it is still very early to fully grasp the impact” of the new data,
“it is perhaps most important to remember who will be drawing the maps.”