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Friday, June 9th, 2017

The rise of multiracial and multiethnic babies in the U.S.

Author:     Gretchen Livingston
Source:     Pew Research Center
Publication Date:     June 6, 2017
 Link: The rise of multiracial and multiethnic babies in the U.S.
Stephan:   In the midst of the growing and virulent racism on the part of White Christofascists, there is another and much healthier trend going on that has received almost no attention in news media, although it is actively represented in television drama series. For the past six months I have been watching series on Netflix, HBO, Starz, Showtime and other channels, looking for cultural trends -- this is a particularly good place to catch them as they are starting -- and one of the things I have taken note of is the growing racial equality and inter-racial romances in the series. Now here is some social outcome data to confirm what I was observing: "One-in-seven U.S. infants (14%) were multiracial or multiethnic in 2015, nearly triple the share in 1980, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data." I take this as good news.

One-in-seven U.S. infants (14%) were multiracial or multiethnic in 2015, nearly triple the share in 1980, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data. This increase comes nearly a half century after the landmark Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia legalized interracial marriage.

Multiracial or multiethnic infants include children less than 1 year old whose parents are each of a different race, those with one Hispanic and one non-Hispanic parent, and those with at least one parent who identifies as multiracial. This analysis is limited to infants living with two parents because census data on the race and ethnicity of parents is only available for those living in the same home. In 2015, this was the case for 62% of all infants.

The rapid rise in the share of infants who are multiracial or multiethnic has occurred hand-in-hand with the growth in marriages among spouses of different races or ethnicities. In 1980, 7% of all newlyweds were in an intermarriage, and by 2015, that share had more than doubled to 17%, according to a recently released

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