VivirLatino

One of the biggest lines fed by the anti-immigrant movement is that there are already so many of “us”, that the U.S. can’t afford to school any more of “our” children, and give “us” anymore of “their” jobs. And today I have come across a flurry of stats being released that seem to be all over the place in terms of just how many of “us” there are.

Today, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that: The minority population reached an estimated 104.6 million — or 34 percent of the nation’s total population — on July 1, 2008, compared to 31 percent when the Census was taken in 2000. Nearly one in six residents, or 46.9 million people, are Hispanic, the agency reported.

Even more telling for the future: 44 percent of children younger than 18 and 47 percent of children younger than the age of five are now from minority families.

The quickly expanding Latino population is having a healthy impact on the economy, according to Ken Gronbach, author of “The Age Curve: How to Profit from the Growing Demographic Trend.”

“Latinos have saved our country,” he said. “They represent 14 percent of the population but 25 percent of the live births. The United States is the only western industrialized nation with a fertility rate above the 2.2 percent replacement rate.”

So people should be thanking us no? Well let’s look at some of the areas that are experiencing growth and the reception that growth is getting.
Read more…