Majority-minority (alternatively, minority-majority) is a term used to describe a U.S. state or other jurisdiction whose racial composition is less than 50% white. 'White' in this context means Non-Hispanic Whites. Racial data are derived from self-identification questions on the census and census bureau estimates. (See Race in the United States Census).
Contents |
From colonial times to the early 20th century, much of the Lowland South had a black majority. Three Southern states had populations that were majority black. They were Louisiana (until the 1890s[3]), South Carolina (from c.1708 until the 1920s[4]) and Mississippi (until the 1930s[5]). In the same period, close to but just below the 50% level of black populations were Georgia, Alabama and Florida,[6] while several other Southern states had black populations approaching or exceeding 40%.
These states changed markedly from the 1890s through the 1950s, as two waves of the Great Migration led more than 6.5 million blacks to abandon the economically depressed Deep South in search of better job opportunities and living conditions, first in Northern and Midwestern industrial cities, and later west to California. One-fifth of Florida's black population had left the state by 1940, for instance.[7] During the last 30 years of the 20th century into the 21st century, scholars have documented a reverse New Great Migration of blacks back to southern states, but typically those of the New South, which have the best jobs and developing economies.[8]
The District of Columbia, one of the magnets for Great Migration blacks, was long the sole majority-minority federal jurisdiction in the continental U.S. The black proportion has declined since the 1990s due to gentrification and expanding opportunities, with many blacks moving to suburban Maryland and others migrating to jobs in states of the New South in a reverse of the Great Migration.[8]
Since 1965, foreign immigration has spurred the proliferation of majority-minority areas, most notably in California,[9] whose legal resident population was 89.5% 'non-Hispanic white' in the 1940s, but was estimated at 43.1% 'non-Hispanic white' in 2005 (56.9% otherwise).
The first data for New Mexico was a 5% sample in 1940 which estimated non-Hispanic whites at 50.9%.[10] Hispanics do not constitute a race but a cultural group: Of respondents who listed Hispanic origin, some listed White race, roughly half gave responses tabulated under "Some other race" (e.g. giving a national origin such as "Mexican" or a designation such as "Mestizo" as race), and much smaller numbers listed Black, Native American, or Asian race.
In recent U.S. censuses, self-identification has been the primary way to identify race. Presumption of race based on countries or regions given in the ancestry question is used only when a respondent has answered the ancestry question but not the race question. The U.S. Census currently defines "white people" very broadly as "people having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa,[11] i.e. Caucasoids. This definition has changed through the years.
Although the Census attempts to enumerate both citizens and non-citizens, the illegal immigrant population of the United States has proven hard to quantify; the census uses a 12 million base estimate nationally. However, current estimates based on national surveys, administrative data and other sources of information indicate that the current population may range as high as 20 to 30 million.[12]
| Area | White (all) | Non-Hispanic White | Asian American | African American | Hispanic or Latino American | Native American | Native Hawaiian | Two or more races |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 57.6% | 40.1% | 13.0% | 6.2% | 37.6% | 1.0% | 0.4% | 4.9% |
| Hawaii | 24.7% | 22.7% | 38.6% | 1.6% | 8.9% | 0.3% | 10.0% | 23.6% |
| New Mexico | 68.4% | 40.5% | 1.4% | 2.1% | 46.3% | 9.4% | 0.1% | 3.7% |
| Texas | 70.4% | 45.3% | 3.8% | 11.8% | 37.6% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 2.7% |
| District of Columbia | 38.5% | 34.8% | 3.5% | 50.7% | 9.1% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 2.9% |
| United States | 72.4% | 63.7% | 4.8% | 12.6% | 16.3% | 0.9% | 0.2% | 2.9% |
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, 2005
The term majority-minority state almost always refers to ethnic/racial minorities, but it may also refer to other criteria, such as religion, disability, or age. For example, the majority of Utah residents are Mormons, a Christian denomination that is a religious minority throughout the rest of the United States. Utah and Rhode Island, which has a Roman Catholic majority, are the only states in the U.S. where a single denomination constitutes a majority of the population. However, no U.S. state has a majority composed of any non-Christian group, except for Hawaii, where 51.1% of the population follow religions that would be non-mainstream in the rest of the United States. Hawaii is classified as religious majority of Unaffiliated, including agnostics, atheists, humanists, the Irreligious, and Secularists (non-practicing).
While the concept exists in other nations, the exact term differs from place to place and language to language.
In many large, contiguous countries like Russia or China, there are many autonomous regions where a minority population is the majority. These regions are generally the result of historical population distributions, not because of recent immigration. Here the term "majority-minority" is rarely encountered.
Brazil has officially become a majority "non-White" country as of the 2010 Census.[19] Those identifying as White declined to 48 percent in 2010 Census from 53 percent in 2000.[19] However, in Brazil this is not simply a matter of origin and birthrate, but identity changes as well.