US will see increase in Asian population

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The "united colours of America", the euphemism employed to denote the fast changing racial composition of the United States, will become even more pronounced in the future as the share of non-white ethnic groups -- the present minorities -- increases and gradually surpasses the present white majority that dominates the country's racial landscape.

The share of Asians in the US population is also projected to grow substantially and the country's population will have a different face altogether, with diversity of races increasing and the population living longer (and thus looking older) by the year 2050.

The US population, presently at 302 million, will reach 439 million by 2050.

This is the reading of the latest projections released Thursday by the US Census Bureau.

Minorities, who constitute a third of the US population today, will become a majority by 2042, its share rising to some 54 per cent of the US population by 2050.

People of Hispanic origin, including immigrants and their descendants as well as those born in the US with American roots going back to generations, will have the largest growth amongst the minorities.

The Hispanic population is projected to grow nearly threefold by 2050, with their share growing from about one in six residents to one in three in the future.

The populations of blacks and Asians will increase by nearly 60 per cent, with the share of blacks in the overall population rising from 14 to 15 percent and that of Asians from 5 to 9 per cent by the year 2050.

People of so-called mixed racial parentage -- people of two or more races -- is also expected to grow, their share growing threefold to 16.2 million or some 4 per cent of the population.

The non-Hispanic, single-race white population will have the lowest growth rate of less than 2 per cent, its share in the overall population declining from 66 per cent to 46 per cent. The white racial group is expected to decline from the year 2030 as more and more people belonging to the single white race will die than are born in or immigrate to the US.

However, the 65-and-older population is expected to remain mostly white because of the number of whites born during the post-World War II baby boom.

By 2030, all boomers will be 65 or older; by 2050, that age group will have more than doubled and will account for more than one in five residents, compared with one in eight today.

Other interesting facts and figures to emerge from the latest census are that the share of people who are 85 and older, will more than triple, accounting for 4 per cent of US residents in 2050, compared with less than 2 percent today.

On the other hand, the share of those who are in the working age group will decline from 63 per cent to 57 per cent. Breaking down the working population along racial lines, the working population will comprise 30 per cent Hispanic, 15 percent blacks and about 10 per cent Asia by 2050.

What do these demographic changes mean in terms of political demands and consumer tastes? Politically, whites will be much more interested in issues like healthcare and pensions while the Hispanics will seek better employment and education opportunities.

In matters such as consumer tastes, the growth of the Asian population will also bring dramatic cultural and culinary influences. Already, Chinese and Indian culinary influences are evident in many parts of the country.

"There are very few Americans today who have not tasted Chinese food or tried chicken tikka and other Indian delicacies," says Rohit Bhindra, a sociologist.

"You also see a culinary melting pot emerging amongst Asians. Not all Chinese restaurants are patronised by people of Chinese descent. You see Koreans, Japanese and South Asians in Chinese restaurants. On the other hand, you will see Japanese, Malaysians, Singaporeans and Thai patronising Indian restaurants," says Vasudevan Pillai, a software engineer from Malaysia's northern state of Penang, who has been living in the US for a decade and a half.

He noted that the culinary borders have become porous.

"When I go to buy roti chanai (flat bread), I usually go to an Indian grocery store which stocks all kinds of Asian food products ranging from Chinese egg plants and pok choi through Malaysian star fruits and frozen products to spices from India. Indeed, as one Indian friend told me, the best frozen Indian foods come from Malaysia!" comments Pillai.

However, there are also many Americans who fear that quality of life would be affected by such glaring demographic changes brought about by uncontrolled immigration of people of diverse cultures.

"Sure, this population will mean we will see many more million cars on the road and also many more million houses built. However, our country will also be more densely populated compared to the land available. We need to discuss the pros and cons of our immigration policy to determine how many we can admit and integrate," says one researcher at the Centre for Immigration Studies.