Missouri and the Nation Change in Minority Population of Missouri and U.S. During the 1990s The data in this section pertain to all population of the U.S. and each of the states except for those listed as White Non-Hispanic. In this section Hispanic people are included in the minority population even though Hispanics as a group are an ethnic, not a racial minority. There are two articles included in "Missouri and the Nation" that focus on some segment of minority population. This article will report racial minority population by state. In this set of tables the minority population reported includes both racial and ethnic minorities. Another section will focus on Hispanics as a separate ethnic minority. Map 1 click map for larger version As shown on Map 1, there are four states and the District of Columbia in which minorities account for more than 48 percent of total population. [usst_minority_2000] Hawaii, with 77.1 percent, has the highest proportion of minority population. The District of Columbia is 72.2 percent minority and New Mexico and California with 55.3 and 53.3 percent respectively. Texas is nearing more than half minority with 47.6 percent reported in the 2000 Census. Minority populations increased significantly throughout most of the nation during the 1990s, increasing by at least 16 percent (Louisiana) in all states. The minority population increased by more than 30 percent in 45 states. Table 1 reports that minority population in 11 states increased by more than 80 percent during the 1990s, although in most of those states the percentage is high because minority population was a relatively small proportion of total state population in 1990. Aside from the large percentage increases reported in Table 1, there were very large numerical increases in many states. Table 2 shows that California minority population increased from 12.7 million in 1990 to 18.1 million in 2000 - an increase of 5.4 million. Similarly, the Texas minority population increased from 6.7 million in 1990 to 9.9 million in 2000 - an increase of 49 percent. In addition, to California and Texas, there were four more states with a minority population increase of greater than a million. Those included: Florida 2.1 million, New York 1.7 million, Illinois 1.1 million and Georgia 1.1 million. Seven additional states had a minority population increase of between 500,000 and a million, and 17 states had an increase of between 200,000 and 500,000. Tables 3 and 4 report minority population as a percent of state total population in 1990 and 2000. These data show that in 1990 there were nine states and the District of Columbia in which minorities accounted for more than 30 percent of total state population. By 2000 there were16 states plus the District of Columbia in which state population included more than 30 percent minorities. As an indication of the pervasiveness of minority population growth throughout the nation, in 1990 there were 16 states in which minorities accounted for less than 10 percent of state total population. By 2000 there were only six states with less than 10 percent minority population. Missouri and Its Neighbors Missouri minority population increased from 667,220 in 1990 to 908.737 in 2000 - an increase of 36.2 percent which ranked 39th among the states. The 241,517 numerical increase ranked 28th nationally. Missouri minority population increased from 13.0 percent of total state population in 1990 to 16.2 percent in 2000. Although minorities accounted for an increased proportion of Missouri's population in 2000, the proportion of minority population declined relative to the rest of the nation. Minorities as a percent of Missouri's population declined from 29th among the states in 1990 to 33rd in 2000. Missouri ranks sixth among its eight neighboring states in minorities as a proportion of state population in 2000. In order, minorities as a percent of state population were: Illinois 32.2 percent, Oklahoma 25.9 percent, Arkansas 21.4 percent, Tennessee 20.8 percent, Kansas 16.9 percent, Missouri 16.2 percent, Nebraska 12.7 percent, Kentucky 10.7 percent and Iowa 7.4 percent. All eight of Missouri's neighboring states had a greater percentage increase in minority population during the 1990s than Missouri. That is not unexpected for states like Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, which had small minority populations in 1990. Their percentage increases during the 1990s were 97.4, 85.8, and 60.2 respectively. However, states having a higher proportion of minority population also had percentage increases greater than Missouri's 36.2 percent. In order, those percentage increases were: Oklahoma 50.5, Kentucky 41.9, Illinois 39.7, Tennessee 39.4, and Arkansas 37.1. A possible explanation for the relatively small increases in Missouri minority population may be the large proportions of the state traditionally having little if any minority population. Aside from the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas, there are relatively few concentrations of racial minorities. Significant increases in rural minority population during the 1990s in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri has been due to an in-migration of Hispanic population employed in agricultural processing enterprises. Detailed Tables Minority Population, 2000, for All U.S. States HTML PDF Minority Population, 1990, for All U.S. States HTML PDF Minority Population as a Percent of Total, 2000, for All U.S. States HTML PDF Minority Population as a Percent of Total, 1990, for All U.S. States HTML PDF Change in Minority Population, 1990-2000, for All U.S. States    HTML PDF Percent Change in Minority Population, 1990-2000, for All U.S. States    HTML PDF