Latinos accounted for the vast majority of the overall U.S. population between 2022 and 2023, according to the newly released Vintage 2023 Population Estimated from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Latinos accounted for about 70% of the country's population growth, with that figure being primarily driven by births. In other words, Latinos people grew to just over 65 million, an increase of 1.16 million (1.8%) from the prior year, contributing to the nation's total population gain of 1.64 million in 2023, according to the report.
At the same time, the demographic's population is expanding at a much faster rate than their non-Latino counterparts.
"The annual increase of 1.8% was in sharp contrast to the 0.2% increase in the non-Hispanic population, whose growth was tempered by a decline among non-Hispanic Whites," said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Census Bureau's Population Division.
Wilder also explains that not only did White people see a population decline, but it was also the only group to experience a population loss. That trend seems to confirm a wide perception across the country— the U.S. is becoming less white and more Latino and Asian American, Axios reports.
Natural births were the primary cause of increase among Hispanics, with around 722,000 more births than deaths. Conversely, despite unprecedented numbers of migration in the past few years, this was only about one-third of the overall net gain in the Latino population, with 437,000 migrants coming into the country, according to the report.
Because of this growth, Hispanics of any race made up almost 20% of the U.S. population in 2023, making it the second largest group after the non-Hispanic White population.
But despite the continued growth, Hispanics' yearly growth of 1.8% between 2022 and 2023 is slower than it was in previous decades: 2.0% between 2012 and 2013, and 3.7% between 2002 and 2003.
Likewise, 27 of the 43 states where the total population increased between 2022 to 2023 experienced more growth in the Hispanic population relative to the non-Hispanic. In 13 of those 27 states, including Nevada, New Jersey and Connecticut, the non-Hispanic population declined while the number of Hispanic residents increased.
The report comes as a growing number of Republicans and far-right conservatives promote a decades-old conspiracy theory known as the "white replacement theory" which assumes the existence of a pilot to change America's racial composition by methodically enacting policies that reduce white Americans' political power.
The conspiracy encompasses strains of anti-Semitism as well as racism and anti-immigrant sentiment, according to Axios.
From Fox News host Tucker Carlson, to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and former President Donald Trump, the conspiracy has gained momentum in recent years and throughout this campaign cycle. However, there is no evidence that indicates any conspiracy by Latinos to replace white Americans.
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