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‘First time' in history: White deaths outnumber births in US

Published time: June 13, 2013 10:51
Edited time: June 13, 2013 12:11

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Reuters / Andrew Kelly

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Deaths of white people outnumbered births for the very first time in US history, the Census Bureau revealed Thursday. The census predicts that significant drops in birth rates v death rates will be regular by 2025.

The new 2012 annual census calculated births minus deaths as of July 2012 and saw a decrease of about 12,400 people out of 198 million non-Hispanic whites in the country.

Several demographers have pointed out that no other racial group in the US experienced a similar drop.

Such a natural decrease within the white population is the first of its kind and was not even observed in the US during wars or Depression, the Washington Post reported.

Non-Hispanic whites in the US are older than other groups, with a median age of 42. In comparison, the median age for Asians is 34, for African Americans, it is under 32, and for Hispanics it is under 28.

“We’re jumping the gun on a long, slow decline of our white population, which is going to characterize this century,” demographer with the Brookings Institution William Frey, who analyzed the census data, told the Washington Post.

Kids celebrate being at the 2013 NBA Finals Legacy Project as part of the 2013 NBA Finals on June 7, 2013 at the Joe Celestin Center in Miami, Florida (NBAE Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images / AFP)

The data also revealed that half of the America’s under-5 age group is made up of racial and ethnic minorities, amounting to 49.9 percent in 2012.

If the current rate of growth continues, then the whites in the under-5 group will become a minority in 2013-14, the Census Bureau's acting director Thomas Mesenbourg told AP.

The Bureau also predicts that just in five years minorities will become the majority of children under 18.

And after that mark the total white population will start to significantly decline as aging baby boomers will start dying.

John Moore / Getty Images / AFP

Demographic and economic factors behind drop in birth rates

The decline in births rates for the past several years include demographic and economic factors.

One reason is women with college degrees are choosing careers and are postponing getting married and having kids till at least late into their 20s. And census shows that if women have children later in life they will opt to have fewer of them, or be unable to have more.

Also, data revealed that white women are more likely to be childless than Hispanic or African American women.

The economic recession that hit the US in 2007 also had a negative impact on birth rates, as more white women believed that they could not afford to have more kids.

Reuters / Rick Wilking

The 2012 fall in white births versus deaths ratio is not the first alarming number that was released to the public this past couple of years.

The 2011 census, published in May 2012, showed that for the first time in US history white births make up fewer than half the children born in the country, according to the US Census Bureau. Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 per cent of all births in the 12-month period in 2011 that ended last July.

A drop in the non-Hispanic white population came a decade earlier than the Census Bureau predicted initially. Demographers cited two factors as reasons for the earlier drop: decreasing birth rate and slower immigration levels. Birth rate and immigration usually balance out a population decrease.

Moreover, the inflow of 188,000 white immigrants into the US in 2012 played a role at keeping non-Hispanic whites at 63 percent of the country’s population – the largest single group in the US.

Demographer Ken Johnson believes there is hope yet.

“Once this recession has waned, we’re probably going to see at least a temporary uptick in births until death rates start to rise,” he said.

Head Coach Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs interacts with the kids at the 2013 NBA Cares Legacy Project as part of the 2013 NBA Finals on June 7, 2013 at the Wheatley Middle School in San Antonio, Texas (NBAE Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images / AFP)

But Frey believes that the older white population will start depending more on the younger population (which is a minority).

“More so than ever, we need to recognize the importance of young minorities for the growth and vitality of our labor force and economy,'' Frey added. “Last year, we saw the majority of babies are minorities. Now we see more whites are dying than being born. Together, that tells us a lot about where we’re going as a country.”

Ethnic changes in the US are prompting activists to demand for amends to some of the civil rights programs in higher education, such as affirmative action in college admissions.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the issue this month. Activists are arguing that they should now be more focused on income rather than race and ethnicity, AP reported.

Currently there are more than 36 percent of university students that are minorities, up from 16 percent in 1980. And the black voter turnout was more than white turnout in last year's presidential election.

http://rt.com/usa/us-white-births-census-613/

Cuban state media was also silent on the mysterious arrival of the Viktor Leonov CCB-175 boat, measuring about 300 feet long and 47 feet wide. According to French news agency Agence France-Presse, the ship docked at the port of Havana’s cruise ship area, near the Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

A Soviet-made Lada limousine passes by Russian Vishnya (also known as Meridian) class warship CCB-175 Viktor Leonov, docked, on Feb. 26, 2014, at Havana harbor. The Vishnya class ships are used for gathering intelligence. They ships were built in the 1980s for the Soviet Navy and are still deployed within the Russian fleet. (AFP/Adalberto Roque)

The State Department did not immediately respond to TheBlaze’s request for comment, and a Defense Department spokesman said this was “the first he was hearing of it,” but was looking into the matter.

Also often referred to as a Vishnya-class ship, the vessel boasts a crew of around 200, and went into service in the Black Sea in 1988 before it was transferred seven years later to the northern fleet, Russian media sources reported.

The warship’s arrival hearkens to a time when the former Soviet Union was communist Cuba’s sponsor state through three decades of the Cold War. Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin created distance between the two countries for a time, but more recently the two countries have renewed their political, economic and military cooperation.

Tourists in a old American car pass by Russian Vishnya (also known as Meridian) class warship CCB-175 Viktor Leonov, docked, on Feb. 26, 2014, at Havana harbor. The Vishnya class ships are used for gathering intelligence. They ships were built in the 1980s for the Soviet Navy and are still deployed within the Russian fleet. (AFP/Adalberto Roque)

Havana is a little more than 100 miles off the coast of Florida.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/27/mystery-russian-warship-docks-in-cuba-without-warning/

10 Marijuana Myths Exposed

The next time you’re in that conversation with the person who’s dissing marijuana legalization, you can deliver these knockout statistics to shut them up.

“Legal pot will target kids!”
The fastest growing demographic of marijuana smokers in the 21st century is people over the age of 50. Barely one percent of the AARP-eligible smoked pot monthly at the start of the 2000s. That figure is over three percent today and in raw numbers, monthly silver tokers have tripled since 2000.

“Kids will think pot is OK!”
In the beginning of the 2000s, there were 3.9 million kids aged 17 or younger who smoked pot that year. In 2012, that figure dropped to 3.3 million. Meanwhile, annual tokers over age 50 more than doubled from 1.7 million to 4.7 million

“Teen use will skyrocket!”
The greatest teen use was in 1979, when 31 percent of high school seniors had tried illegal-in-all-50-states pot. Today, with 20 medical marijuana states and two legal states, only 17 percent of 12th graders have tried pot.

“Productivity will suffer!”
Fifty-five percent of people who have never smoked marijuana work full or part time. But 70.6 percent of people who have smoked pot are working. Even monthly pot smokers are more likely to be employed (64.4 percent) than people who didn’t smoke pot this month (61.7 percent).

“Roads full of stoned drivers!”
During the annual two-week national DUI crackdown between mid-August and Labor Day, police in Washington State nabbed fewer people for DUI than the year before legalization and more drivers they caught were under the state’s new legal limit. In Colorado, just 13 out of 359 DUI cases in the Denver metro area were for marijuana. Accident fatality rates are down in Washington and Colorado at a greater rate than the national average.

“Today’s pot is seven-times stronger!”
There’s always been great weed. Today it’s just easier to come by. Average potency of marijuana seized has increased by about double, but why are we supposed to fear a 10 percent-30 percent THC bud when a 100 percent THC pill (Marinol) has been legal since the 1980s?

”Marijuana addicts are filling rehabs!”
Well, people caught smoking pot are filling rehabs because a judge forces them there. Over half (53 percent) of people in rehab for marijuana alone were sent there by the criminal justice system, while only one-in-seven (14 percent) chose to enroll themselves in rehab. As for these “addicts,” well over half of them (56 percent) smoked pot less than once a week, with well over a third (37 percent) who smoked no pot the month before admission to rehab.

“Legal pot will target minorities!”
Really, more than law enforcement? There are twice as many white monthly marijuana smokers (12.7 million) than all other races and ethnicities combined (6.3 million).

“What’s next, legalized meth?”
Doubtful. While the latest CNN Opinion poll showed 88 percent support for medical marijuana, 84 percent for decriminalized marijuana, and 55 percent for legalized marijuana, it showed only four percent support for legalized meth and cocaine and three percent support for legalized heroin.

“Legal pot will drive up social costs!”
A 2002 Canadian study found that a smoker costs $822/year in social costs, a drinker costs $165/year, and a pot smoker costs $20/year. That pot cost is under prohibition, so we take in no taxes to offset it. Do you think we can collect $20 in taxes per year from a legal pot smoker?

"Radical" Russ Belville is the host of The Russ Belville Show, which airs live at 3pm Pacific.

http://www.hightimes.com/read/10-marijuana-myths-exposed

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