Lower Birthrate Means Fewer Latinos In The Future

By Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez / Senior Field Correspondent

Published September 1, 2011 at 12:50 PM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez, Director of Arizona State University's School of Transborder Studies.

Lower Latino Birthrate

A study released in Arizona shows its Latino population is not growing as fast as researchers first believed.

The study is based on information from the U.S. Census Bureau. It shows that in the future, there will be fewer Latinos living in Arizona, much less than originally projected. Researchers said it’s because Latinas younger than 20-years-old are having fewer children and waiting longer to have them.

Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez is the director of Arizona State University’s School of Transborder Studies. He said there is more to the population decline.

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Vélez-Ibáñez said the different views of a younger generation, inter-racial marriages and even divorce rates are issues that impact the Latino population shift.

“You also have vertical mobility in the population itself and increasing education over time,” Vélez-Ibáñez said. “And when you put all that stuff together, you can then recognize that in fact it’s not just in Arizona but also in California and New Mexico...all over the place. It’s any place Hispanos live.”

The census data also shows the national birthrate for Hispanic women was lower than Arizona's rate for the last 10 years. The study shows that births among non-Hispanic women under the age of 20 also declined.

Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez

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Nadine is a Senior Field Correspondent (Phoenix) who focuses on stories throughout the southwest and issues that directly affect Arizona’s Latino community. She is an Emmy-nominated journalist and a Telly Award winner. She is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and earned a Masters in Education from Northern Arizona University. She comes from a lengthy background in communications. Her broadcasting career includes Arizona’s PBS station KAET-TV. She was a producer and correspondent for the public affairs programs Horizon and Horizonte. While in Chicago, she hosted on-air bilingual pledge drives for WTTW Channel 11 (PBS), making her the only bilingual pledge host at the time. She was a general assignment reporter for Tribune Company’s ChicagoLand Television News, Univision affiliate WCIU-TV Channel 26 and WYCC-TV. She also worked for Comiskey Park (now U.S. Cellular Field), the home of the Chicago White Sox and United Center (Chicago Bulls) Scoreboard Operations. She co-produced a bilingual television parenting program on both Chicago’s Telemundo and WYCC-TV Channel 20. Aside from her broadcasting career, she served in various roles in public relations, community outreach, and marketing. Her extensive public sector experience extends to several departments of the City of Chicago, Mayor’s Advisory Council on Latino Affairs, and the U.S. Congress. Other professional experience includes Vice President of Community Outreach for the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee. Currently, she mentors and teaches public radio writing and reporting to inner city students and participates in journalism workshops for high school students throughout the Phoenix area. Her goal is to teach journalism in a higher education institution, while continuing her mentorship initiative. She was born in Puerto Rico to Puerto Rican and Belgian parents, and raised on Chicago’s southside in La Villita (a predominantly Mexican community). This diverse background taught her valuable lessons in various Latino cultures and informs her insight into issues of great interest to Latino families and business community.

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