U.S. Minority Growth Tracked

In 2005, the nation’s minority population totaled 33 percent, or 98 million of the country’s 296.4 million residents, the U.S. Census Bureau said last week. The mid-decade numbers showed that Hispanics are both the largest and the fastest-growing minority group, with a 3.3 percent increase from July 1, 2004, to July 1 of last year, and a total of 42.7 million residents. Hispanics, who may be of any race, accounted for almost half the nation’s population growth in that time. About one-third of the Hispanic population was under 18, compared with one-fourth of the total population, the bureau reported.