Over the next half century, future immigrants and their descendants will account for 103 million people in the U.S., or 88 percent of the population increase as the country grows to 441 million people and transforms into a nation where no racial or ethnic group is a majority, according to a new Pew Research Center report released on Monday.
Asians are on track to become the largest group of immigrants in the country, and by 2065, are expected to make up 38 percent of all immigrants, outnumbering the 31 percent of expected Hispanic immigrants.
"Without the immigrants, the U.S. population would start decreasing," said Pew demographer Jeff Passel, who contributed to the report. The current U.S. population is about 324 million.
"The big picture is that immigration has been the major demographic factor driving growth and change in the U.S. population over the last 50 years," he added.
Pew's report, "Modern Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to U.S., Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065," comes 50 years after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which eliminated a quota system that favored European immigrants. Instead, it was replaced with a policy that sought skilled immigrants and family reunification.
That change resulted in a dramatic demographic shift, with the number of non-Hispanic whites going from 84 percent in 1965 to 62 percent in 2015. In the same time, the Hispanic share of the population rose from 4 percent to 18 percent and Asians rose from less than 1 percent to 6 percent.
"The country's overall population will feel the impact of these shifts. Non-Hispanic whites are projected to become less than half of the U.S. population by 2055 and 46 percent by 2065," Pew said. "No racial or ethnic group will constitute a majority of the U.S. population. Meanwhile, Hispanics will see their population share rise to 24 percent by 2065 from 18 percent today, while Asians will see their share rise to 14 percent by 2065 from 6 percent today."
By 2065, some 78 million immigrants will reside in the U.S., with a record 18 percent expected to be foreign-born, according to Pew. Since the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, the population of foreign-born rose from 5 percent to 14 percent today.
"The Pew Research analysis shows that without any post-1965 immigration, the nation's racial and ethnic composition would be very different today: 75 percent white, 14 percent black, 8 percent Hispanic and less than 1 percent Asian," Pew said.
Half of all U.S. adults surveyed by Pew said they believe this sort of mass immigration from third world countries has contributed to higher crime rates and a worse economy, while about the same number believe immigrants are improving food, music and the arts, reports Breitbart.
Almost half of all respondents, 49 percent, want current immigrations levels to be reduced, and a whopping 82 percent said the immigration system needs major changes or needs to be completely rebuilt.
Forty-five percent said immigrants in the U.S. are making society better in the long run, while 37 percent said they are making it worse.
The survey was conducted from March 10 to April 6 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
