UNH Today

The study, by the University of New Hampshire, found natural decreases in the white population across 17 states in 2014, including Florida, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, which together comprise 38% of the U.S. population. That’s a big shift from 2004 when only four states had more white deaths than births. The declines, exacerbated by the Great Recession, are largely driven by an aging white population, fewer women of childbearing age, and lower fertility rates overall, according to researchers. “The white population isn’t replacing itself,” says Ken Johnson, a University of New Hampshire demographer and co-author of the study. “That accelerates the growing diversity of the American population.”