Demographics of The United States of America

Main articles: Demographics of the United States and Americans

Largest ancestry groups by county, 2000

Race/Ethnicity (2010)^[179]
White	72.4%
Black/African American	12.6%
Asian	4.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native	0.9%
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander	0.2%
Other	6.2%
Two or more races	2.9%
Hispanic/Latino (of any race)	16.3%

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the country's population now to be 313,717,000,^[2] including an estimated 11.2 million illegal immigrants.^[180] The U.S. population almost quadrupled during the 20th century, from about 76 million in 1900.^[181] The third most populous nation in the world, after China and India, the United States is the only major industrialized nation in which large population increases are projected.^[182] Even with a birth rate of 13.82 per 1,000, 30% below the world average, its population growth rate is positive at 1%, significantly higher than those of many developed nations.^[183] In fiscal year 2011, over 1 million immigrants (most of whom entered through family reunification) were granted legal residence.^[184] Mexico has been the leading source of new residents for over two decades; since 1998, China, India, and the Philippines have been in the top four sending countries every year.^[185]

The United States has a very diverse population—thirty-one ancestry groups have more than one million members.^[186] White Americans are the largest racial group; German Americans, Irish Americans, and English Americans constitute three of the country's four largest ancestry groups.^[186] African Americans are the nation's largest racial minority and third largest ancestry group.^[186] Asian Americans are the country's second largest racial minority; the two largest Asian American ethnic groups are Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans.^[186] In 2010, the U.S. population included an estimated 5.2 million people with some American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry (2.9 million exclusively of such ancestry) and 1.2 million with some native Hawaiian or Pacific island ancestry (0.5 million exclusively).^[187] The census counted more than 19 million people of "Some Other Race" who were "unable to identify with any" of its five official race categories in 2010.^[187]

The population growth of Hispanic and Latino Americans (the terms are officially interchangeable) is a major demographic trend. The 50.5 million Americans of Hispanic descent^[187] are identified as sharing a distinct "ethnicity" by the Census Bureau; 64% of Hispanic Americans are of Mexican descent.^[188] Between 2000 and 2010, the country's Hispanic population increased 43% while the non-Hispanic population rose just 4.9%.^[179] Much of this growth is from immigration; as of 2007, 12.6% of the U.S. population was foreign-born, with 54% of that figure born in Latin America.^[189] Fertility is also a factor; as of 2010 the average Hispanic woman gave birth to 2.4 children in her lifetime, compared to 2.0 for non-Hispanic black women and 1.8 for non-Hispanic white women (below the replacement rate of 2.1).^[190] Minorities (as defined by the Census Bureau as all those beside non-Hispanic, non-multiracial whites) constituted 36.3% of the population in 2010,^[191] and nearly 50% of children under age 1,^[192] and are projected to constitute the majority by 2042.^[193]

About 82% of Americans live in urban areas (including suburbs);^[1] about half of those reside in cities with populations over 50,000.^[194] In 2008, 273 incorporated places had populations over 100,000, nine cities had more than 1 million residents, and four global cities had over 2 million (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston).^[195] There are fifty-two metropolitan areas with populations greater than 1 million.^[196] Of the fifty fastest-growing metro areas, forty-seven are in the West or South.^[197] The metro areas of Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Phoenix all grew by more than a million people between 2000 and 2008.^[196]

Leading population centers					view talk edit
Rank	Core city	Metro area pop.^[198]	Metropolitan Statistical Area	Region^[199]	New York City Los Angeles
1	New York City	19,015,900	New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA	Northeast
2	Los Angeles	12,944,801	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA	West
3	Chicago	9,504,753	Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI MSA	Midwest
4	Dallas	6,526,548	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA	South
5	Houston	6,086,538	Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, TX MSA	South
6	Philadelphia	5,992,414	Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington, PA–NJ–DE–MD MSA	Northeast
7	Washington, D.C.	5,703,948	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA	South
8	Miami	5,670,125	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA	South
9	Atlanta	5,359,205	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA	South
10	Boston	4,591,112	Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA	Northeast
based on the 2011 U.S. Population Estimate

Language

Main article: Languages of the United States

Languages (2010)^[200]
English (only)	229.7 million
Spanish, incl. Creole	37.0 million
Chinese	2.8 million
French, incl. Creole	2.1 million
Tagalog	1.6 million
Vietnamese	1.4 million
Korean	1.1 million
German	1.1 million

English is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.^[200]^[201] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states.^[5] Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.^[202]
While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.^[203] Other states, such as California, mandate the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms.^[204] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken languages in those jurisdictions. Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico.

Religion

A Presbyterian church; most Americans identify as Christian.

Main article: Religion in the United States

The United States is officially a secular nation; the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion and forbids the establishment of any religious governance. In a 2002 study, 59% of Americans said that religion played a "very important role in their lives", a far higher figure than that of any other wealthy nation.^[205] According to a 2007 survey, 78.4% of adults identified themselves as Christian,^[206] down from 86.4% in 1990.^[207] Protestant denominations accounted for 51.3%, while Roman Catholicism, at 23.9%, was the largest individual denomination. The study categorizes white evangelicals, 26.3% of the population, as the country's largest religious cohort;^[206] another study estimates evangelicals of all races at 30–35%.^[208] The total reporting non-Christian religions in 2007 was 4.7%, up from 3.3% in 1990.^[207] The leading non-Christian faiths were Judaism (1.7%), Buddhism (0.7%), Islam (0.6%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%).^[206] The survey also reported that 16.1% of Americans described themselves as agnostic, atheist, or simply having no religion, up from 8.2% in 1990.^[206]^[207]

Family structure

In 2007, 58% of Americans age 18 and over were married, 6% were widowed, 10% were divorced, and 25% had never been married.^[209] Women now mostly work outside the home and receive a majority of bachelor's degrees.^[210]

Same-sex marriage is a contentious issue. Some states permit civil unions or domestic partnerships in lieu of marriage. Since 2003, several states have legalized gay marriage as the result of judicial or legislative action. Meanwhile, the federal government and a majority of states define marriage as between a man and a woman and/or explicitly prohibit same-sex marriage. Public opinion on the issue has shifted from general opposition in the 1990s to a statistical deadlock, to a majority in support.^[211]

The U.S. teenage pregnancy rate, 79.8 per 1,000 women, is the highest among OECD nations.^[212] Abortion policy was left to the states until the Supreme Court legalized the practice in 1973. The issue remains highly controversial, with public opinion closely divided for many years. Many states ban public funding of the procedure and restrict late-term abortions, require parental notification for minors, and mandate a waiting period. While the abortion rate is falling, the abortion ratio of 241 per 1,000 live births and abortion rate of 15 per 1,000 women aged 15–44 remain higher than those of most Western nations.^[213]

^{Tuesday, June 12, 2012}