Maryland to be Majority-Minority

Maryland to be Majority-Minority (by James Wright, Washington Afro American - 6.13.07)

By 2025, Maryland will be among a host of states and the District of Columbia in which racial and ethnic minorities will outnumber Whites. That is the conclusion of a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate in May.

The report stated that the nation's minority population had reached 100.7 million in 2006, which means that one in every three Americans is a person of color. The country's population is 302,010,697 as of May 31.

Maryland is 42 percent minority according to the 2006 estimate, with 29 percent Black, 5 percent Latino, 5 percent Asian and 3 percent Native-American and other. The report states that by 2020, Maryland will have passed the threshold of 50.5 percent minority.

Maryland would be the first state on the East Coast to have the distinction of being majority-minority. The District of Columbia has had a majority-minority population since the 1950s, and the report said that it will remain that way through 2025.

At present, Hawaii, New Mexico, California and Texas have majority-minorities. In 2025, Maryland will be joined by Arizona, Nevada, Georgia,[New Jersey] and Florida.

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