White Population Drops in 15 States

The white population is dropping in 15 states in the Northeast and Midwest including Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Ohio. The Census Bureau said the decline of whites was also found in California and three Southern states, The Washington Post reports.

Non-Hispanic whites now make up 64 percent of the population, down from 69 percent a decade ago, the Census Bureau analysis of the 2010 count showed. While the white population increased from 194.5 million to 197 million over the last 10 years, its 1.2 growth rate was behind the national growth rate of 9.7 percent, the Post reported.

The number of Hispanics and Asians is growing rapidly, while the number of blacks is growing slowly with white growth almost flat. The white population in the South increased by 4 percent and in the West by 3 percent. However, it dropped in the Northeast by more than 1 million people, or 3 percent, and by 300,000 in the Midwest, according to the Post.