Minorities make up majority of U.S. babies

WASHINGTON -- For the first time, more than half of U.S. children under age 2 are minorities, part of a sweeping race change and a growing age divide between mostly white, older Americans and growing younger ethnic populations that could reshape government policies.

Preliminary census estimates also show the share of African-American households headed by women, mostly single mothers, now exceeds African-American households with married couples, reflecting the trend of declining U.S. marriages overall.

The findings, based on the latest government data, offer a preview of final 2010 census results being released this summer.

Demographers say the numbers provide the clearest confirmation yet of a changing social order, one in which racial and ethnic minorities will become the U.S. majority by midcentury.

"We're . . . living in a different world than the 1950s, where married or two-parent heterosexual couples are now no longer the norm for a lot of kids, especially kids of color," said Laura Speer, coordinator of the Kids Count project for the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Currently, non-Hispanic whites make up just under half of all children 3 years old, which is the youngest age group shown in the Census Bureau's October 2009 annual survey, its most recent. In 1990, more than 60 percent of children in that age group were white.

Twelve states and the District of Columbia now have white populations below 50 percent among children under age 5: Hawaii, California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Maryland, Georgia, New Jersey, New York and Mississippi. That's up from six states and the District of Columbia in 2000.