By the year 2050, Hispanics will account for 29% of the US population, and just about one out of five Americans will be an immigrant or the child of an immigrant, according to new projections put out by the Pew Research Center. According to the report, which covers trends from 2005 to 2050, total population will soar from 296M to 438M during that span, with 82% of the increase coming from the immigrant category. Hispanics will largely fuel that increase, arriving at the 29% figure noted from their 2005 standing at 14%.
During this period the total elderly population will increase vastly as baby boomers enter into traditional retirement years, and the non-Hispanic white population will dip below the halfway point for the first time, to 47%.
Pew said these would be the results if current trends continue to prevail. If the trends change, the results will change. Admitting to the uncertainties in making such predictions, Pew said, "…projections offer a starting point for understanding and analyzing the parameters of future demographic change."
RBR/TVBR observation: This obviously bodes well for Hispanic media. It is also a call for mainstream radio and television to make sure and hang onto that late-60s/early 70s music, along with ample reruns of Star Trek, Gilligan’s Island and whatever else is in the baby boomer wheelhouse — we happen to have boomers on staff, and it looks like we’re going to be around for awhile.
