Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. Every ten years since
Speaker 1: the federal government of the United States conducts a census
Speaker 1: of the country's population, which includes a headcount of the
Speaker 1: people living in the country in addition to a distribution
Speaker 1: breakdown of where those people live. The U. S Constitution
Speaker 1: created the census in order to figure out how many
Speaker 1: seats in the House of Representatives and how much federal
Speaker 1: funding each state will get. The census asks questions about
Speaker 1: every member of each household in America, including their sex, age,
Speaker 1: stated race, and relationship to each other. Here are some
Speaker 1: key takeaways from the U. S Census, now that the
Speaker 1: results are in. The U S population grew slowly between
Speaker 1: twenty from three eight point seven million to one point
Speaker 1: four million people. That's an increase of twenty two point
Speaker 1: seven million, but it's a percentage increase in total population
Speaker 1: of only seven point four percent. This percentage increase in
Speaker 1: total population of only seven point four percent rivals the
Speaker 1: great depressions for slow growth in contrast, For example, the
Speaker 1: period between nineteen fifty and nineteen sixty saw an eighteen
Speaker 1: point five percent increase in the total US population. A
Speaker 1: fewer children were born in the past decade than usual,
Speaker 1: and the percentage of the US population under the age
Speaker 1: of eighteen declined by almost one point five percent. A
Speaker 1: Children now make up about twenty two percent of the population,
Speaker 1: although that varies by factors like region. The population in
Speaker 1: the Northeast is only twenty percent children, while in the
Speaker 1: Southeast it's twenty two point five percent. American families have
Speaker 1: become more multi racial, or are at least describing themselves
Speaker 1: as such. Among the non Hispanic population alone, there was
Speaker 1: a one hundred and twenty seven percent jump in people
Speaker 1: who I identified as multi racial, and among the Hispanic
Speaker 1: population it was even higher. The number of Hispanic Americans
Speaker 1: who identifies multiracial grew from three million to twenty point
Speaker 1: three million, a whopping five hundred and seventy six percent increase.
Speaker 1: Americans who identify as multiracial still only make up around
Speaker 1: four percent of the population, but this spike is significant.
Speaker 1: It's possible that it has to do with an increase
Speaker 1: in multiracial families, Americans reporting their race differently, or something
Speaker 1: about the design of the is that caused people to
Speaker 1: answer questions differently than before, or possibly all three. Along
Speaker 1: with this, for the first time on record, the white
Speaker 1: population of the United States, the largest racial group in
Speaker 1: the country, shrank, falling from sixty percent of the population
Speaker 1: to fifty eight percent. In Meanwhile, the Hispanic and Asian
Speaker 1: populations grew, as of one in four Americans identified as
Speaker 1: either Hispanic or Asian, according to demographers. A part of
Speaker 1: the reason for the declining numbers of white Americans has
Speaker 1: to do with their age. The median age of white
Speaker 1: people in twenty nineteen was forty four years, compared with
Speaker 1: thirty years for Hispanic people and thirty eight years for
Speaker 1: the American population overall. This has to do with declining
Speaker 1: birth rates, but also the baby Boomer generation moving into
Speaker 1: their sixties and seventies. The growth in the US happened
Speaker 1: almost exclusively in urban areas. Over the past decade. People
Speaker 1: flocked from rural to metropolitan counties. Even in states that
Speaker 1: are growing rapidly like Georgia and North Carolina, the rural
Speaker 1: areas shranken population. Interestingly, a retirement community in Florida called
Speaker 1: The Villages was the fastest growing metro area in the country,
Speaker 1: seeing thirty nine percent growth between twenty and twenty Phoenix
Speaker 1: Arizona overtook Philadelphia as the fifth largest city in America,
Speaker 1: its population growing eleven percent in the past decade. Similarly,
Speaker 1: Dallas and Houston, Texas are two of the fast is
Speaker 1: to growing cities in the country. These are just a
Speaker 1: few numbers from the Census. We'll have to stay tuned
Speaker 1: to see what lawmakers choose to do with this information.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article eight Fascinating Findings
Speaker 1: from the Census on how Stuff works dot Com, written
Speaker 1: by Desolin Shields. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com and
Speaker 1: is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from my
Speaker 1: heart Radio. Visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.