Births fueling Hispanic growth - USATODAY.com: Births, not immigration, now account for most of the growth in the nation's Hispanic population, a distinct reversal of trends of the past 30 years.
The Hispanic baby boom is transforming the demographics of small-town America in a dramatic way. Some rural counties where the population had been shrinking and aging are growing because of Hispanic immigration and births and now must provide services for the young.
'In all of the uproar over immigration, this is getting missed,' says Kenneth Johnson, demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute. 'All the focus is on immigration, immigration, immigration. At some point, it's not. It's natural increase.'
This natural increase — more births than deaths — is accelerating among Hispanics in the USA because they are younger than the U.S. population as a whole. Their median age is 27.4, compared with 37.9 overall, 40.8 for whites, 35.4 for Asians and 31.1 for African Americans.
