Black and Hispanic Americans See Their Origins as Central to Who They Are, Less So for White Adults
About half of Americans see their identity reflected very well in the census’s race and ethnicity questions.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
About half of Americans see their identity reflected very well in the census’s race and ethnicity questions.
A new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data finds that U.S.-born adult children of immigrants are better off than immigrants on key measures of socio-economic well-being. The same report analyzes survey data on Hispanics and Asian Americans, comparing attitudes of immigrants and U.S.-born children of immigrants on politics, values, language use and other measures.
The nation’s racial and ethnic minority groups—especially Hispanics—are growing more rapidly than the non-Hispanic white population, fueled by both immigration and births.
A new Pew Hispanic Center survey includes findings on how U.S. Latinos prefer to describe themselves, as well as their views on race, shared culture, language use, the immigrant experience and other topics. A central finding is that slightly more than half prefer to describe themselves by their family’s country of origin, while only a minority use the words “Hispanic” or “Latino.”
The number of Hispanics counted in the 2010 Census has been larger than expected in most states for which the Census Bureau has released detailed population totals so far, with the widest gaps in states with relatively small Hispanic populations.
Many Americans were puzzled or irritated by the questions about race and Hispanic ethnicity on the 2010 Census form.
Nearly all Hispanic adults born in the United States of immigrant parents report they are fluent in English. By contrast, only a small minority of their parents describe themselves as skilled English speakers.
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