America’s 75 million baby boomers are officially outnumbered by the far larger younger generation born between 1982 and 2000, the Census Bureau said Thursday.
Millennials now number 83.1 million people, and represent more than one-quarter of the nation’s population, the bureau said in new estimates.
Moreover, millennials are more diverse than previous generations, with 44.2 percent being part of a minority race or ethnic group (that is, a group other than white).
The youngest Americans — those younger than 5 years old — are also ethnically diverse. In 2014, this group became majority-minority for the first time, with 50.2 percent being part of a minority race or ethnic group.
This is fueling a growth in American diversity seen over a decade, with the percentage of minorities climbing from 32.9 percent in 2004 to 37.9 percent in 2014.
Five states or equivalents were majority-minority: Hawaii (77.0 percent), the District of Columbia (64.2 percent), California (61.5 percent), New Mexico (61.1 percent) and Texas (56.5 percent), the bureau said.
• Cheryl Wetzstein can be reached at cwetzstein@washingtontimes.com.
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