For the first time ever, white births in the United States are no longer in the majority, according to US Census Bureau estimates Thursday that underscored the growth of the Hispanic population.
Hispanics, blacks, Asians, indigenous peoples and those of mixed ethnicity or race accounted for 50.4 percent of births in the 12 months to July 2011, the federal agency said in a statement.
Leading the trend were Hispanics, who remained the biggest (52 million) and fastest-growing (up 3.1 percent from 2010) of all groups.
Whites still made up the largest single share of the total births, at 49.6 percent. They also constituted a majority of the overall population of the United States at 63.4 percent.
But as the Census Bureau projected in 2008, they will no longer be in the majority by 2042.
"I think it is historic, both literally and figuratively," said Isabel Sawhill, co-director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, commenting on Thursday's data.
"It means we are going to have to work harder to make sure that all children get a good education, regardless of their racial or ethnic background, so that we can remain a strong country," Sawhill told AFP.