Hispanic Americans a growing force, figures show

Nearly half of American toddlers are from ethnic minorities thanks to burgeoning fertility rates among Hispanic Americans, the US Census Bureau has found.

Hispanic families were responsible for 70% of American population growth among under-5s, and 49% of population growth among all age groups, the figures showed.

The findings represent a dramatic shift in the ethnic makeup of the US population, with a third of the population as a whole now coming from ethnic or racial minorities, compared to 21% in 1990.

But the country is still expected to be ethnically-dominated by non-Hispanic whites for decades to come, with their proportion of the US population only expected to slip below 50% after 2050.

Nearly half of the under-5 population is from ethnic minorities, with non-white and Hispanic toddlers accounting for 9 million under-5s out of a total of 20.3 million.

The report comes at a time when America is split by the issue of Hispanic immigration. Millions turned out to nationwide rallies on May 1 to protest against proposed immigration laws that would criminalise 12 million illegal immigrants. Three-quarters are believed to be of Mexican origin.

Samuel Huntington, a politically influential academic who coined the term "clash of civilisations", claimed in his most recent book that Hispanic immigration would destroy the essential Anglo-Protestant character of American culture.

America is the world's third most populous country and its population is expected to top 300 million at some point this year.

Its burgeoning population growth has been driven by Hispanics, whose 1.3 million extra residents accounted for nearly half of US population growth in 2004 and 2005. Of that number, 800,000 were children born to Hispanic parents, and 500,000 were immigrants.

The US's fertility rate of 2.1 births per woman is the highest in the developed world, meaning that its population is likely to continue growing faster than European countries such as Spain and Italy, which have a fertility rate of around 1.3, or East Asian countries such as Japan, with a rate of 1.4.

This fertility rate is seen as a key long-term economic advantage by American policy-makers, but among white non-Hispanics it is only 1.9 - comparable to the UK's 1.8. Hispanics have a fertility rate of 2.8.

Hispanics are also around 10 years younger on average, with 8.2 Hispanic children being born for every Hispanic death compared to 1.2 non-Hispanic children born for every non-Hispanic death.

Figures from America's most recent census in 2000 showed that 192 million Americans are white non-Hispanics, 40.5 million Hispanic, 34 million black, 12 million Asian, 4 million mixed race, and 1.8 million Native American.