Hispanic Children: The Rise of the Second Generation
The Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, released a report that finds that Hispanics now make up more than one in five of all children in the United States -- up from 9% in 1980. And as their numbers have grown, their demographic profile has changed.
More than half of the nation's 16 million Hispanic children are now "second generation," meaning they are the U.S.-born sons or daughters of at least one foreign-born parent, typically someone who came to this country in the immigration wave from Mexico, Central America and South America that began around 1980. In 1980, a majority of Latino children were "third or higher generation" -- the U.S.-born sons or daughters of U.S.-born parents.
A Pew Hispanic Center analysis of U.S. Census data indicates that many social, economic and demographic characteristics of Latino children vary by their generational status. First- and second-generation Latino children are less likely than third- or higher-generation children to be fluent in English and to have parents who completed high school. They are more likely to live in poverty. But they are less likely than third- or higher-generation Latino children to live in single-parent households.
Another characteristic that separates Latino children along generational lines is their legal status. Building on earlier research, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that fewer than one in ten of all Hispanic children are unauthorized immigrants. However, about one-quarter have one or more parents who is an unauthorized immigrant.
Pew Hispanic Center population projections indicate that the generational composition of Hispanic children will change yet again between now and 2025. The share of Hispanic children who are second generation is projected to peak soon, while the share of Hispanic children who are third generation or higher will begin to rise in the coming decade.
The report, "Latino Children: A Majority Are U.S.-Born Offspring of Immigrants," authored by Richard Fry, senior research associate, Pew Hispanic Center, and Jeffrey S. Passel, senior demographer, Pew Hispanic Center, is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's Web site, www.pewhispanic.org.