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For the first time in U.S. history, one in five Americans is of Latino origin, reaching a total of 68 million, according to a report released Tuesday by the Latino GDP Project at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and California Lutheran University.
This demographic milestone reflects the growing importance of the Latino community in the country's population, economy, and workforce.
Sustained population growth
The study, based on Census Bureau data, revealed an annual increase of 2 million Latinos by 2024, out of a national population of 340 million.
This increase represents a growth of 2.9 % compared to 2023, 5.8 times faster than that of other communities.
The report attributes this expansion primarily to “natural population change”—that is, more births than deaths—which generated a cumulative growth of 3.2 million Latinos between 2020 and 2024, compared to a decrease of 1.3 million in other demographics.
“Latinos withstood the extraordinary challenges of the pandemic and were responsible for maintaining the positive natural population shift in the U.S.,” the report notes.
Unprecedented workforce and economic contribution
In addition to population growth, the Latino community reached a record high in labor force participation:
- 35.1 million Latino workers in 2024, an increase of 5.5% year-over-year.
- Since 2010, the Latino workforce has grown by 46.5 percent, 7.2 times faster than other population groups.
- The Latino labor force participation rate reached a record high of 69.%.
“Time and again, we find that hard work, self-reliance, optimism, and perseverance are characteristics that underlie the strength and resilience of Latinos in the United States,” said Matthew Fienup, executive director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at Cal Lutheran.
In April, another Latino GDP study revealed that the Latin American GDP in the U.S. reached $4.1 trillion, making it the fifth-largest economy in the world, even ahead of India.
This report follows data showing that the U.S. lost 1.4 million migrants in the first six months of the Donald Trump administration, marking the first decline in the immigrant population since the 1960s, according to the Pew Research Center.
This contrast reinforces the impact of the internal growth of the Latino population beyond migratory flows.
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