Asians Remain Fastest-Growing Racial Group in US: Census

American-Indian jewellers sell their artwork in the plaza of Albuquerque. (Photo: AP)

Asians remain the fastest-growing racial group in the United States, according to new information from the Census Bureau.

The nation’s Asian population grew at 3.4 percent between July 2014 and 2015, with migration responsible for the majority of the growth, government officials said Thursday. There are now 21 million Asians in the United States, with Hawaii as the nation’s only majority Asian state.

Sam Garrow, a Census Department demographer, said Asians have been the fastest-growing race group since about 2000, and the main driving force is international migration. In 2013, China replaced Mexico as the top country sending immigrants to the United States, officials said.

Other minority groups grew as well. The Hispanic population grew by 2.2 percent to 56.6 million, and New Mexico had the largest percentage of Hispanics in the country at 48 percent.

The African-American population grew by 1.3 percent to 46.3 million and the American Indian and Alaska native population grew 1.5 percent to a total of 6.6 million.

The second fastest-growing racial group was those who claim two or more races, government officials said. The number of people who claimed two or more races grew 3.1 percent to 6.6 million. This group was also the youngest group of all racial or ethnic groups with a median age of 20 years.

Census figures show that of those born since 2000, nearly half – or 49 percent – belong to a race or ethnic group other than non-Hispanic white. In contrast, 44.5 percent of the millennials – born between 1982 and 2000 – did not classify themselves as non-Hispanic whites.

Whites Showing Slowest Growth

The nation’s white population is showing the slowest growth.

The census found that the white population, including those who chose white along with another race, grew only 0.5 percent between 2014 and 2015. There were more than 255 million people who said they were white or white in combination with something else.

The numbers change little for those who say they are white alone. There are 198 million people who say they are white alone, an increase of 0.1 percent.

Sumter County in Florida is the Oldest

The oldest place in the United States is Sumter County, Florida, where the majority of the population is at least 65 years old.

Almost 55 percent of Sumter County has reached retirement age, government figures showed, and the median age in the county was 66.6 years old.

Sumter County also contains one of the fastest-growing areas in the country.

The youngest county in the United States? Lexington County, Virginia, which had a median age of 22.4 years.