Thread: Hispanic population feeds Indiana's growth

Hispanic population feeds Indiana's growth

By Tim Evans, USA TODAY
Updated 9m ago

INDIANAPOLIS — Two-thirds of Indiana's 92 counties gained in population in the past decade, the largest growth coming in Indianapolis/Marion County and surrounding suburban counties.

The growth was fueled by a substantial growth in the Hispanic population, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The state's total population increased 6.6% — by 403,317 — to a total of 6,483,802.

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"The 10-county Indianapolis metropolitan area fueled the state's growth, accounting for 57% of the increase," said Matt Kinghorn, a demographer with the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.

Kinghorn said the rate of the increase in Indiana minority communities was larger than anticipated.

"The state is certainly diversifying and at a rate faster than most of us had anticipated," he said.

Hispanics accounted for 43% of the state's total growth since 2000, he said.

The state's Hispanic population grew 82%, jumping from 214,536 in 2000 to 389,707.

Kinghorn said that increase can be attributed to immigration and a higher birthrate among Hispanics.

The Asian population increased 74% from 58,424 in 2000 to 101,444. Indiana's white population grew only 1.3%, from 5,219,373 in 2000 to 5,286,453 in 2010.

The changing demographic of the state will require public officials to address the needs of the state's new residents, Kinghorn said.

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"To the extent we have more people in Indiana where English is not their primary language, schools and local government will need to consider and plan how to deal with that," he said.

The population of Hamilton County, north of Indianapolis, grew 50%. That was the largest increase among the state's most populous counties. Two other counties adjacent to Indianapolis recorded the next largest increases. Hendricks County, west of the city, grew 40%. The population of Johnson County, to the south of Indianapolis, jumped 21%.

Evans reports for The Indianapolis Star.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/cen ... nsus_N.htm

"To the extent we have more people in Indiana where English is not their primary language, schools and local government will need to consider and plan how to deal with that," he said.

Well, get ready to tighten your belts people in Indiana, you are going on a "have your money sucked away from you big time diet" ....

Hispanic population feeds Indiana's growth

Who ever said the people of IN even wanted this growth? The only good thing out of this is that maybe more Americans in the center of the country will wake up to the fact that we are being balkanized. I feel it's probably too late tho.