Whites in the United States will no longer be a majority of the population by 2042, nearly a decade earlier than previous projections, according to US Census Bureau figures released Thursday.
While 65 percent of the US population is projected to be white in 2010, those numbers will start to decline around the 2030s as white deaths outpace births, according to the figures.
The figures show that in 2042, whites will be outnumbered by Americans who call themselves Hispanic, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander. Previous projections said this would happen by 2050.
By the mid-century mark, when the United States is projected to have a population of 439 million people, 54 percent of the population will consist of racial minorities.
The largest growth will be among Hispanics, expected to number 133 million by 2050 -- almost a third of the projected US population growth between 2010 and 2050 -- due to high birth rates and immigration.
