wfn.org | U.S. Census Bureau reveals new facts about African Americans

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Feb. 1, 1999	Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71B{059}

By United Methodist News Service

Did you know that the gap in high-school completion between African
Americans and whites narrowed to the point where there was no statistical
difference between the two racial groups in 1998?  

Did you know that the median age of the nation's African-American population
in 1998 was 30 years old or five years younger than the total United States
population.

Did you know the number of businesses owned by African Americans in the
United States increased by 46 percent between 1987 and 1992?

These are but a few of the facts released by the U.S. Census Bureau as part
of  the Black History Month observance.

Education
*	Eighty-eight percent of African Americans, ages 25 to 29, were high
school graduates in 1998, continuing an upward trend in the educational
attainment of African Americans that began in 1940.
*	African American under 35 who were enrolled in college in 1996 was
nearly 40 percent higher than the number  enrolled a decade earlier?
*	Nearly three million or 15 percent of African Americans, ages 25 and
over, held a bachelor's degree or higher in 1998; of these degree holders,
more than 800,000 had an advanced degree.

Population
*	As of Nov. 1998, the nation's African-American population totaled an
estimated 34.5 million and comprised 13 percent of the total population. 
*	The African American population has grown faster than either the
total or white population since 1990 and is projected to reach 45.1 million
by 2020.
*	Fifty-five percent of African Americans lived in the South in 1998,
comprising one-fifth of that region's population. Nationwide, 54 percent of
African-Americans lived in the central cities of metro areas.
*	As of 1997, the 10 states with the largest African American
populations were New York, 3.2 million; California, 2.4 million; Texas, 2.4
million; Florida, 2.3 million; Georgia, 2.1 million; Illinois, 1.8 million;
North Carolina, 1.6 million; Maryland, Louisiana and Michigan, 1.4 million
each.  Washington D.C. led all states or equivalents with the largest
percentage of African Americans, 63 percent, in its total population.

Families
*	In 1998, there were 8.4 million African-American families, nearly
half being married-couple families.  The typical African-American family
consisted of 3.42 members. In comparison, the figure is larger than the
average of 3.02 members for white families but smaller than the average of
3.92 members for Hispanic families.
*	In 1998, nearly 6 in 10 African American families had children under
age 18. Thirty-six percent of those children lived with both parents while
12 percent lived in a grandparent's home, with or without the parents
present.

Income and Poverty
*	The income for African American households increased 4.3 percent
between 1996 and 1997.  The real median income rose from $24,021 to $25,050,
making the income surpass 1989 levels.
*	Between 1996 and 1997, the number of poor African-Americans dropped
to 9.1 million and poverty rates dropped for African Americans from 28.4
percent to 26.5 percent.

Occupations and Businesses
*	Nearly 23 percent of American-American women, aged 16 and over and
17 percent of men, in 1998, worked in managerial and professional jobs. 
*	Between 1987 and 1992, the number of African American-owned
businesses in the United States increased by 46 percent; increasing from
424,165 to 620,912.
*	Receipt for all African American firms increased by 63 percent, from
$19.8 billion in 1987 to $32.2 billion in 1992, compared with a 26 percent
increase of all firms in the United States and an 67 percent increase in
receipts.

Marital Status
*	In 1998, 41 percent of African-American men ages 18 and over had
never been married while 45 percent were already married. The corresponding
figures for African-American women were 37 and 39 percent.

# # #

______________
United Methodist News Service
http://www.umc.org/umns/
newsdesk@umcom.umc.org
(615)742-5472