Minority Births Tipped to outnumber White Births in U.S.

The number of children born to minorities in the U.S. is increasing by the number. According to an Associated Press (AP), minorities make up nearly half the children born in the U.S., part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 40 years. Currently, whites make up two-thirds of the total U.S. population, and recent census estimates suggest the number of minorities may not overtake the number of whites until 2050.

The report highlights immigration to the U.S. as one factor that has boosted the number of Hispanic women in their prime childbearing years. Minorities made up 48 percent of U.S. children born in 2008, the latest census estimates available, compared to 37 percent in 1990. The numbers they say highlights the nation's growing racial and age divide, seen in pockets of communities across the U.S., which could heighten tensions in current policy debates from immigration reform and education to health care and Social Security. For more information visit http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_white_minority