36738 Emerging Trends and Demographic Shifts: The New Context

Mark Hugo Lopez, PhD, Pew Research Center, Washington DC, DC

Background: Research conducted by the Pew Research Center has found that “after four decades of rapid growth, the number of Latino immigrants in the U.S. reached a record 18.8 in 2010 , but has since stalled…Since 2000, the U.S. born Latino population continued to grow at a faster rate than the immigrant population. As a result, the foreign-born share of Latinos is now in decline.”[1] As a result, in late 2014, the U.S. Census Bureau adjusted its projections based on this slowdown and concluded that “the Hispanic population is still expected to grow by 86% between 2015 and 2050” and by 2060 “the Hispanic population is projected to be 119 million.[2]

Program background:  Research conducted by the Pew Research Center has found that “after four decades of rapid growth, the number of Latino immigrants in the U.S. reached a record 18.8 in 2010 , but has since stalled…Since 2000, the U.S. born Latino population continued to grow at a faster rate than the immigrant population. As a result, the foreign-born share of Latinos is now in decline.”[1] As a result, in late 2014, the U.S. Census Bureau adjusted its projections based on this slowdown and concluded that “the Hispanic population is still expected to grow by 86% between 2015 and 2050” and by 2060 “the Hispanic population is projected to be 119 million.[2]

Several other demographic trends are worth noting:

  • For decades, Hispanics have had the highest uninsured rates of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. However, the Affordable Care Act is already having a profound impact, and data released in March 2015 indicate that the percentage of Hispanics without healthcare coverage has decreased from 41.8% to 29.5%.[1]
  • About 6 in 10 U.S. adult Hispanics (62%) speak English or are bilingual.
  • The average number of years lived in the U.S. among Hispanic adult immigrants has grown from 17 years in 2006 to 20 years in 2011.
  • A growing share of Hispanic adults is consuming news in English from television, print, radio, and Internet outlets and a declining share are doing so in Spanish.[2]
  • The five states where Hispanics made up the biggest share of the population in 2012 were New Mexico, California, Arizona, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada. However, between 2000 and 2012 the five states with the fastest growing Hispanic populations were Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, and South Dakota.[3]

[1] http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2015/uninsured_change/ib_uninsured_change.pdf (ASPE Issue Brief, March 16, 2015)

[2] http://www.pewhispanic.org/files/2013/07/latinos_and_news_media_consumption_07-2013.pdf

[3]http://www.pewhispanic.org/2014/04/29/hispanic-nativity-shift/  


[1] http://www.pewhispanic.org/2014/04/29/hispanic-nativity-shift/

[2] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/16/with-fewer-new-arrivals-census-lowers-hispanic-population-projections-2/

Evaluation Methods and Results: N/A

Conclusions:  The rise of U.S. born and slowdown in immigrant population growth are reshaping the adult Hispanic population in the U.S.

Implications for research and/or practice:  Changes in demographic trends of the US Hispanic/Latino population have implications for health communication with regard to language, health insurance coverage, geographic region, and the use of traditional, social, and digital media.