Downturn Revises Census Projections

From The Wall Street Journal:

Slowing immigration means that whites are projected to continue to comprise a majority of the U.S. population until at least 2050, eight years later than previously thought.

Those were the findings of new Census Bureau projections released Wednesday. The updated figures substantially revised some earlier ones, reflecting the effects of the recession and stricter border control.

Additionally, the projections also showed the U.S. population crossing 400 million just after 2050, more than a decade later than earlier forecasts. Currently, the U.S. has about 308 million people, roughly two-thirds of them whites of non-Hispanic origin.

Both new findings assume that the current level of immigration, about one million people a year, will stay about the same. Immigration levels are difficult to predict, of course, rising and falling based on factors such as economic conditions in the U.S. and abroad.

The Census projections highlight the extent to which the growth and composition of the U.S. population hinges on immigration. The flow of immigrants into the U.S. influences everything from the solvency of Social Security to the size of the labor force and the country's average age.