One of every seven people in the
United States is Hispanic, a record number that will probably
keep rising because of immigration and a birth rate outstripping
that of non-Hispanic blacks and whites. The largest minority
group accounted for half of the overall population growth
of 2.9 million from July 2003 to July 2004, according to
a Census Bureau report being released today. The agency
estimated there are 41.3 million Hispanics in the United
States. The bureau does not ask people about their legal
status; that number is intended to include both legal and
other residents. The population growth for Asians ran a
close second. Lewis W. Goodman, an American University expert
on relations between the United States and Latin America,
said that without immigration from both groups, the United
States would be faced with demographic changes like those
in Japan and Europe ''where the populations are graying
in a way that is very alarming and endangering their productivity
and endangering even their social security systems.''
