Edward Hugh on the demograpics of US

demography.jpgEdward Hugh from Demography.Matters has a very interesting piece up about the US tale of two population pyramids. Now, I know that I am affiliated with Demography.Matters but I still believe Edward's piece deserves coverage here at Alpha.Sources. Notice especially the analysis of how the Latino population affects the broader demographic dynamics and how this part of the US population display laggard tendencies in terms of falling fertility both from a quantum and tempo effect perspective.

'More evidence that the US fertility profile may be less stable than many assume comes from looking at the fertility behaviour of the recent migrant population. Now as this article explains, the U.S. Hispanic population, which accounts for only 14 percent of the US population, was responsible for a staggering 49.2 percent of the population increase four-year population increase in the US over the last four years.

Even more to the point are the so-called 'vital statistics' — the ratio of births to deaths — of the two main population groups. The vital index for white non-Hispanics is 1.2 (approximately one birth for every death), while among Hispanics the figure is 8.2 — approximately eight births for every Latino death. This disparity is the result of the considerable differences in age structure and fertility between the groups.'

Definitely worth a look.