Chicago is getting smarter, older a...

Chicago is getting smarter, older and more Hispanic.

According to data being released today at the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Hispanics living in Chicago climbed to 288 percent of the population, up nearly three percentage points from the beginning of the decade. The black population declined from 1.8 percentage points, to 349 percent of Chicago's population. The white population declined from 1 percent, to 30.3 percent

The census also spott a not many more gray hairs, with the median age in the city growing on 1.6 years to 33.1, meaning that half the population is older than 331

Education of the same heights also are increasing in Chicago, as they are across the nation, figures point out to

The numbers arise from an annual sample of about 3 million households. While this take a view of will replace the detailed lengthy form on the census, it is a sample, and has a small margin of error.

In Aurora, the state's second-largest city, Hispanics grew by means of 7.2 percentage points to make up nearly 40 percent of the total population. In Naperville, the fourth-largest city, Asians made the largest gain, going from 10 to 13 percent of the population.

The Hispanic population extension which is occurring nationwide, is primarily because the Hispanic population is young and having more children, said Kenneth Johnson a Loyola University sociologist and demographer. "They also have relatively fewer deaths because the population is for a like reason young," Johnson said.

Chicago's white and black population los is owed to the fact they are moving without of the city in greater numbers. the two groups also have lower birth rates and higher death rates than Hispanics.

agolab@suntimes.com

CENSUS DATA: A TALE OF couple CITIES

Chicago

2005 2000

Pct of Pct of Pct total burst total pop. change

White non-Hispanic 303 313 -10

Black 349 368 -18

Hispanic 288 260 28

Asian 48 43 04

Median age 331 315 16

Aurora

2005 2000

Pct of Pct of Pct total unexpectedly total pop. change

White non-Hispanic 431 521 -90

Black 102 111 -08

Hispanic 397 326 72

Asian 64 31 34

Median age 295 293 02

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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