{"id":15820,"date":"2013-06-14T16:05:22","date_gmt":"2013-06-14T21:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/why-there-are-more-deaths-than-births-among-whites\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:30:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:30:51","slug":"why-there-are-more-deaths-than-births-among-whites","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/06\/14\/why-there-are-more-deaths-than-births-among-whites\/","title":{"rendered":"Why there are more deaths than births among whites"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The finding that made headlines from this week\u2019s Census Bureau release of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.census.gov\/newsroom\/releases\/archives\/population\/cb13-112.html\">new national and state population estimates<\/a>\u2014that there are now more deaths than births among non-Hispanic whites\u2014is a vivid illustration of the rapid long-term growth in the number of older Americans.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But first, you might ask, how could there suddenly be more deaths than births, given that American lifespans are so long? One key reason is that <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2012\/11\/29\/u-s-birth-rate-falls-to-a-record-low-decline-is-greatest-among-immigrants\/\">U.S. birth rates and the number of births have dropped<\/a> since the onset of the Great Recession in late 2007, and non-Hispanic whites also have a below-average birth rate. Another reason is the age makeup of the non-Hispanic white population: It is older than other groups (see chart) and includes a lower share of women in their childbearing years.<\/p>\n\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter responsive size-full wp-image-248098\" alt=\"FT_Census-whitepop-older\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2013\/06\/FT_Census-whitepop-older.png\" width=\"565\" height=\"422\"><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><!--more-->For now, the non-Hispanic white population is still growing because of immigration from abroad. But both the Census Bureau and the Pew Research Center have <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/hispanic\/2008\/02\/11\/us-population-projections-2005-2050\/\">forecast that the number of white non-Hispanic Americans would decline<\/a> in coming decades, as the death-to-birth ratio grows faster than could be offset by immigration. The recent fertility downturn may have sped up the growth of the death-to-birth ratio. From July 1, 2011 to July 1, 2012, the Census Bureau estimates there were about 12,000 more deaths among non-Hispanic whites than births.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Non-Hispanic whites are the bulwark of the nation\u2019s giant post-World War II Baby Boom generation. The first of this group turned 65 in 2011, and 10,000 a day are forecast to do so in the coming decades, through 2029.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.census.gov\/population\/projections\/data\/national\/2012\/summarytables.html\">Census Bureau recently projected<\/a> that the share of Americans ages 65 and older would rise to 20% by 2030, compared with 13.7% in 2012. The working-age population, people ages 18 to 64, is projected to decline as a share of the total, as is the share of children.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Video:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.c-spanvideo.org\/program\/SPopul\">U.S. Census Bureau Statistics on Population Change<\/a> (Washington Journal)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The finding that made headlines from this week\u2019s Census Bureau release of new national and state population estimates\u2014that there are now more deaths than births among non-Hispanic whites\u2014is a vivid illustration of the rapid long-term growth in the number of older Americans. But first, you might ask, how could there suddenly be more deaths than 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