Hispanics Will Be Largest Minority in U.S. Their children outnumbering black children for the first time, Hispanics will become the nation's largest minority within seven years, according to the latest Census Bureau figures. In 2005, the Census Bureau projected that Hispanics will overtake blacks as the largest minority group in the United States. By 2050, there should be more Hispanics than all other minorities combined. But in 1997, Hispanic children had already surpassed blacks in number just barely, as birth rates for Hispanic women fell much more slowly than black birth rates, the government said. That's one of myriad statistics in the government's annual report on the well-being of the nation's children (69.5 million of them in 1997.) ’It brings urgency to the plight of Latino children," Lisa Navarrete of the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic community advocacy group, said of the statistics. She said the figures show that Latino kids lag behind their white counterparts on a host of measures. Overall, the news was good: More children were immunized, read aloud to and finished high school. Fewer infants died, fewer kids had lead in their blood and fewer teen-agers were killed. ’There are more indicators that are getting better than are getting worse,'' said Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. But there was bad news, too: Children who were poor, black or Hispanic did worse on many fronts. There were more low-birth weight babies and more teens smoking and drinking. ’And we're not talking about an occasional drink. We're talking five drinks in a row in the last two weeks,'' Alexander said. The same goes for smoking, he said: ’These kids are hooked." But the report's most dramatic data may be the demographic changes among minority children. Hispanics and blacks each now make up about 15 percent of American children, with Hispanics slightly outnumbering blacks. The Hispanic population is concentrated in a handful of large states, though it is growing across the country, and the changing demographics pose numerous challenges. ’It's something that has to be taken into account whether you're delivering health services, educational services, social services or whatever," Alexander said. Meanwhile, the increasing number of Hispanic adults has both Democrats and Republicans courting these new voters. In school, Hispanics often need help learning English. For health, Hispanics are least likely to get immunizations and most likely to get pregnant. ’We've got to do a better job of reaching that population," Alexander said. The Hispanic community hopes the changing demographics though not surprising to people who track the data will help Americans realize the coming dominance of Latinos and their issues. ’We don't have nearly the awareness level of our community that our numbers would merit," Navarrete said. The group plans to issue a report next week showing that Hispanics have the lowest levels of educational achievement. Though their numbers have improved somewhat, the gap between Latinos and other groups has remained constant, Navarrete said. The growing numbers make it even more important that schools pay attention, she said. ’We believe at best (schools) have neglected and at worst failed," she said. ’We have to step up to the plate."

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