COLUMNA de AZTLAN

Now 15 Percent of Total

WASHINGTON, May 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released
today by the U.S. Census Bureau:

The nation's Hispanic population increased 1.4 million to reach 45.5
million on July 1, 2007, or 15.1 percent of the estimated total U.S.
population of 301.6 million.

National and state estimates by race, Hispanic origin, sex and age
released today by the U.S. Census Bureau also show that the Hispanic
population exceeded 500,000 in 16 states.

Hispanics remained the largest minority group, with blacks (single race
or multiracial) second at 40.7 million in 2007. The black population
exceeded 500,000 in 20 states. Blacks were the largest minority group in 24
states, compared with 20 states in which Hispanics were the largest
minority group.

Blacks were followed by Asians, who totaled 15.2 million; American
Indians and Alaska Natives, who totaled 4.5 million; and Native Hawaiians
and Other Pacific Islanders, with 1 million. The population of whites
(single race and not of Hispanic origin) totaled 199.1 million (See Table
1: http://www.census.gov/dcmd/www/embargo/cb08-67table1.xls ).

With a 3.3 percent increase between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007,
Hispanics were the fastest-growing minority group. Asians were the second
fastest-growing minority group, with a 2.9 percent population increase
during the period. The white population grew by 0.3 percent during the
one-year period.

Overall, the nation's minority population reached 102.5 million in 2007
-- 34 percent of the total. California had a minority population of 20.9
million -- 20 percent of the nation's total, Texas had a minority
population of 12.5 million -- 12 percent of the U.S. total.

Four states and the District of Columbia were "majority-minority"
(i.e., more than 50 percent of their population is made up of people other
than single-race non-Hispanic whites). Hawaii led the nation with a
population that was 75 percent minority in 2007, followed by the District
of Columbia (68 percent), New Mexico (58 percent), California (57 percent)
and Texas (52 percent). Next in line, though not majority-minority, were
Nevada, Maryland and Georgia, each with a minority population of 42 percent
(See Table 2: http://www.census.gov/dcmd/www/embargo/cb08-67table1.xls ).

Highlights for the various groups:

Hispanics

-- California (13.2 million) had the largest Hispanic population of any
state as of July 1, 2007, followed by Texas (8.6 million) and Florida
(3.8 million). Texas had the largest numerical increase between 2006 and
2007 (308,000), followed by California (268,000) and Florida (131,000).
In New Mexico, Hispanics comprised the highest proportion of the total
population (44 percent), with California and Texas (36 percent each)
next in line.

-- The Hispanic population in 2007 had a median age of 27.6, compared with
the population as a whole at 36.6. Almost 34 percent of the Hispanic
population was younger than 18, compared with 25 percent of the total
population.

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