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North Dakota’s Population Becoming More Diverse

The growth in North Dakota’s racial minority and Hispanic populations is helping to mitigate some of the population losses in rural areas.

Although racial minorities in North Dakota continue to represent a relatively small proportion of the state’s total population (fewer than one in 10), the racial minority population has grown by one-fifth during the past eight years.

This month’s “Population Bulletin,” a monthly publication from the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University, presents the July 1, 2008, population estimates by race and ethnicity as released from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Division.

These estimates reveal a continuing increase in population diversity throughout North Dakota. The state’s racial minority population (people who are nonwhite or report multiple races) totaled 55,209 in 2008, which is 8.6 percent of the state’s total population of 641,481.

While the white population in North Dakota declined 1.8 percent (10,446 people) from 2000 to 2008, the racial minority population grew by 21.4 percent (9,727 people).

The American Indian population, North Dakota’s largest racial minority, grew by 4,226 from 2000 to 2008, which is an increase of 13.4 percent. During the same period, the black population grew by 2,799 (67.3 percent), Asian by 1,183 (30.2 percent) and people of multiple races by 1,519 (25.4 percent).

The Hispanic population (an ethnic category reported separately from race) represents 2.1 percent of North Dakota’s population and grew by 5,441 people (69.9 percent) from 2000 to 2008.

Nationally, the Hispanic population grew 33 percent from 2000 to 2008.

“The growth in North Dakota’s racial minority and Hispanic populations is helping to mitigate some of the population losses in rural areas, especially in the western portion of our state,” says Richard Rathge, State Data Center director.


NDSU Agriculture Communication

Source:Richard Rathge, (701) 231-8621, richard.rathge@ndsu.edu
Editor:Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.edu

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