Hispanics population soars

The Hispanic population is the nation's largest minority group. Since 2000, an additional 6 million Hispanics were born or moved into the U.S. to bring the total population to 41.3 million of the 294 million people in the country, according to The Washington Post. The chart below outlines changes over the last four years (in millions):

Race, Ethnicity.....July 2004 ......July 2000............ % Change

White ......................239.9 ..................232.0 ....................3.4
Black .........................39.2 ....................37.2 ....................5.4
Asian .........................14.0 ....................12.1 ..................15.7
American Indian............4.4 ......................4.2 ......................4.7
Native Hawaiian ............1.0 ......................0.9 ....................11.1
Non-Hispanic/Latino....252.3 ..................246.5 ...................2.4
Hispanic or Latino...........41.3 ...................35.6 ...................16.0
Total Population...........293.7 ..................282.2 ....................4.1

(NOTE: The total for race is higher than total population because people can belong to more than one racial group, according to Census methodology.)

The surging number of Hispanics will have a big impact on public policy in the years to come, especially in the Southern half of the nation, where more people are tending to settle. According to the Post story:

"It's going to have profound effects on America. They are no longer regionally concentrated in places like California and New York," said Harry P. Pachon, president of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, a California think tank. "There are more Hispanics in Cook County, Chicago, than in Arizona or Colorado or New Mexico. . . . The major significance is that it's a national presence."