1 of 4 Pima County residents is Hispanic, Census Bureau says

Thursday, 16 September 1999

By Pila Martínez
The Arizona Daily Star

The number of Hispanics living in Pima County increased by 40 percent since 1990, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released yesterday.
One out of every four county residents is a member of the minority group.
Among all counties in the nation, Pima County ranked 23rd in the number of Hispanics - with 228,608 - while Maricopa County ranked ninth with 552,181.
A 14.4 percent growth in the American Indian population brought the number to 27,001 and placed Pima County at ninth in the nation. Maricopa County ranked second with 54,415.
Pima County's black population increased by 39.5 percent and the Asian and Pacific Islander population jumped 50.7 percent. The white population grew 17.3 percent.
By comparison, the entire population of Pima County increased 18.6 percent, to 790,755. Arizona grew by 27.4 percent, to 4,668,631.
``We're close to the border, and we're rapidly growing, and we have promoted exchange activities with Mexico,'' noted Hank Atha, director of Community Services for Pima County. ``So I think it's natural that we would have the large number of Hispanic people in the community.''
The jumps in Hispanic and American Indian populations could be because of higher fertility rates, said David Plane, a University of Arizona professor of geography and regional development and an expert in U.S. migration patterns.
``Even without any in-movement . . . we would expect probably a faster rate of growth for those two subpopulations,'' he said.
Minority groups are relatively younger than non-minorities - such as snowbirds - and tend to have larger families, Plane explained.
Plus, fertility rates move upward in prosperous economic times, such as those experienced in Arizona in recent years, Plane said.
At the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, enrollment numbers have been exploding, said Teri Koopman, an economic development specialist for the tribe.
Total membership rates in 1997 and 1998 were three and four times higher than those of the previous two years, she said.
``More people are coming forward and identifying themselves as being Native American,'' Koopman said.
That's partly because of the success of the tribe's gaming enterprise and partly because people are striving for a stronger cultural identity, she said.
Koopman added that American Indians do have larger families - an average of about five children each on her reservation.


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