Census data - No race majority for MS

From the Clarion Ledger...

Census: No race majority in sight...Magnolia State following a national trend of racial plurality

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Mississippi, which weathered the struggle between civil rights and white supremacy in the 1960s, appears to be following a national trend of becoming a state that has no ethnic majority, an analysis of U.S. Census data released today shows.

"We're heading toward no racial majority, but only pluralities," said Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University.

The state's population has increased slightly since the last census count in April 2000. There were 2,938,618 people living in Mississippi as of July 1, 2008, the latest figures show. That's nearly 94,000, or 3 percent, more than the last count.

The number of Hispanics living in the state has almost doubled.

Mississippi's African-American population has seen more growth than the state's white population. But the estimates may be low.

D'Andra Orey, chairman of the political science department at Jackson State University, said census data may underestimate the number of African-American men living in the state because the group is usually harder to reach.

Hispanics accounted for 65,798 of the state's total population, although immigrant-rights advocates believe many more are living in Mississippi. Census data show there were 39,569 Hispanics in Mississippi in 2000.

The number of Mississippians who consider themselves African American grew by 57,198 since the last census. The number of Mississippians who consider themselves white, or non-Hispanic, decreased by 6,067 from the April 2000 census.

Warren County is one of six U.S. counties to become majority minority in 2008, which means more than half the population is nonwhite.

Claiborne County had the highest percentage of African Americans of any county in the nation - 84 percent.

Mississippi also has one of the highest percentages of female residents when compared with other states. Census figures show women make up 51.5 percent of the state's population - higher than the national average of 50.7 percent.