Hispanics Populations, Research Paper Example

More than an eighth of the United States population is of Hispanic in origin. Among the Hispanics population, two-thirds, roughly 66.9 percent of the Hispanics are Mexican in origin, 14.3 percent are from Venezuelan Americans, 3.7 percent are Cuban, 8.6 percent are Puerto Rican, and the 6.5 per-cent remaining are from other Hispanic origins. Geographically, Hispanics are concentrated in close areas than non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanics are more likely to reside in the south and the west of the country than non-Hispanic Whites are, but less likely to reside in the Northeast or in the Midwest. From data in the 2002 census, Hispanic population were approximately 44.2 percent in the West and 7.7 percent resided in the Midwest, while the non-Hispanic Whites were 33.3 percent in the South and approximately 19.2 percent in the West. Hispanics mostly live inside central cities than the non-Hispanic whites who reside away from the metropolitan areas. Approximately half of all Hispanics reside in central cities taking 45.6 percent, compared to approximately one-fifth of non-Hispanic Whites roughly 21.1 percent (Ramirez & Patricia, 2002).

This paper describes the Hispanic population living in the United States, providing a profile of regional socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, for instance geographic distribution, earnings, age, educational attainment, and poverty status. The paper to some point, makes a comparison of the Hispanic and non-Hispanic population to provide a clear understanding of the Hispanic group. From the Census Bureau data in the Annual Demographic Supplement released on March 2002, Hispanic groups were reported to be of many origins including Puerto Rican, Cuban, Mexican, and Venezuelan Americans.

Mexican Americans are of Mexican descent. The Mexicans account for approximately 12.5% of the population in United States. 30.7 million Americans from the latest 2006 data listed Mexico as their land of ancestry forming 64% of all Hispanics population and Latinos in the country. The United States holds the second largest population of Mexicans in the world. Mexican American concentrations are in metropolitan settlements and rural areas in United States. The Mexicans live mostly in the West carrying 54.6 percent and the 34.3 percent in the south. The census data of 2002 revealed that 8.4 percent of Mexicans in United States are unemployed. This creates a high dependency ratio among the community members in struggle for survival. Among families of the Hispanic origin, Mexican family households have approximately five or more people rating at 30.8 percent of the dependency rate (Martha, 2002). Throughout history in the United States, Mexicans in America have always had great acceptance as “Whites.” Most of them even intermarried at that time until recently when the country imposed English literacy and property requirements in Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Texas. This has sidelined the Mexicans since over 60% of the population do not speak English and own no property in the land. In religion, majority of Mexicans are Catholics. They hold great moral-religious values than the rest of Hispanic groups (Moore, 1970).

The Puerto Ricans form the second largest group of Hispanic origin in the United States. The population has resided in United States since 1917 enabled by through an Act by the Congress. Puerto Ricans reside mostly in the Northeast with approximately 58.0 percent. New York City holds the majority of Puerto Rican community. 9.6 percent of Puerto Ricans living within United States are unemployed. However, a good number occupies various positions including the farm laborers in Arizona, Hawaii, and California. A minority of them fill professional positions in the respective Federal Government, including, US Customs, NASA, DOD, and in the private sector (Ramirez and Patricia, 2002). Puerto Ricans also make good professionals in medical profession, engineering fields, and other top positions in country because majority of them have gone through high learning. However, there is still a great number of Puerto Ricans family sharing households. This is because of the high cost of living with minimal income from their employment. The households consist of more than two people, at least half of the members related to owner of the household. There is high dependence ratio in the families leading to more poverty conditions. The members of the community are mostly Catholics but not staunch in religion (Moore, 1970).

Cubans in America have had bad history in the country. Many Cubans came into the country looking for a quality life away from the existing tyrannical government in their homeland, economic struggle and horrible living conditions, only to replicate the same life. The Cubans concentrate highly in the South with approximately 75.1 percent. Politically, the Cubans are active having three members of the community in the House of Representatives in United States and two Senators. However, they are challenged economically. 6.1 percent of Cubans in America are unemployed. Majority of the Cubans who are employed work as operators and laborers in United States firms. Most of the unemployed try establishing businesses but still have major challenges of legislation of their businesses because of citizenship demands. Among Hispanics population, Cuban family households have at least two people roughly rating at 43.1 percent of the households. More than two in five Cubans aged 25-30 years never went through high school education. Most of them migrate to the country at a younger age in search of employment. They abandon education in pursuit of income to earn a daily living (De Genova, 2006).

The Venezuelan Americans mostly reside in three of the four main regions including the Northeast with 31.5 percent, the South approximately 34.0 percent, and the West taking 29.9 percent. They are of Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese decent. Approximately one-quarter of Venezuelan Americans populations hold less than a ninth-grade education roughly 27.0 percent. This is because of the struggles they go through in survival where they are forced to quit school just to earn a living. 6.8 percent of Venezuelan Americans population is unemployed (De Genova, 2006). Among the Venezuelan Americans populations aged between 15 and 20 years, approximately 36.3 percent of them are married. The values of Venezuelan Americans differ from those other Hispanic groups. They have stronger family ties with children taught family values at a younger age making it hard for the group to assimilate into other mainstream societies. Many Venezuelans are catholic but have a tendency of not attending church services and functions within America. Currently, Venezuelans are not politically active especially on the level of the federal government. However, they have some established careers in politics of the local community (Moore, 1970).

These four groups have many differences and commonalities. The commonalty among them is that most of the Hispanics in these groups are catholic, speak Spanish, and practice strong family bonds than typical Americans. The major difference is that they vary in level of assimilation as well as cultural beliefs. With Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans, they are assimilated more to the American norm, while Venezuelan Americans are only middle in assimilation. The Mexican Americans hold the lowest assimilation levels because of the strong family bonds.

References

De Genova, N. (2006). Racial Transformations: Latinos and Asians. Durham: Duke University Press.

Martha, M. (2002). Recovering History, Constructing Race: The Indian, Black, and White Roots of Mexican Americans. Texas: University of Texas Press.

Moore, J. W. (1970). Ethnic groups in American life series. Englewood, Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

Ramirez, R. & Patricia, G. (2002). The Hispanic Population in the United States: March 2002, Current Population Reports, P20-54. Washington DC: U.S. Census Bureau.