( CNN ) -- By 2050 , minorities will be the majority in America , and the number of residents older than 65 will more than double , according to projections released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau . The Census Bureau looks at 2000 results and assumptions about future childbearing , mortality rates and migration . Minorities , classified as those of any race other than non-Hispanic , single-race whites , currently constitute about a third of the U.S. population , according to Census figures . But by 2042 , they are projected to become the majority , making up more than half the population . By 2050 , 54 percent of the population will be minorities . Minority children are projected to reach that milestone even sooner . By 2023 , the bureau said , more than half of all children will be minorities . `` Part of it is a higher fertility rate for some of the minority groups , Hispanics in particular , '' said Dave Waddington , chief of the Census Bureau 's population projection branch , which issued the report . `` Those groups also tend to be more of the childbearing age . Non-Hispanic white people tend to be a little bit older . '' The projections are based on Census 2000 results and assumptions about future childbearing , mortality rates and net international migration , the bureau said . The group predicted to post the most dramatic gain is the Hispanic population . It is projected to nearly triple , from 46.7 million to 132.8 million , from 2008 through 2050 , the bureau said . Its share of the total U.S. population is expected to double from 15 to 30 percent . `` Thus , one in three U.S. residents would be Hispanic , '' the Census Bureau said in a news release . The African-American population is projected to increase from 41.1 million to 65.7 million by 2050 , going from 14 percent of the U.S. population to 15 percent . The Asian-American population is expected to increase from 15.5 million to 40.6 million , or from 5.1 percent to 9.2 percent of the population . Among the remaining races , the bureau said , American Indians and Alaska natives are projected to increase from 3.9 million to 8.6 million , going from 1.6 percent to 2 percent of the U.S. population . Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders are expected to more than double , increasing from 1.1 to 2.6 million . In addition , the number of U.S. residents identifying themselves as being of two or more races is projected to more than triple , increasing to 16.2 million from its current 5.2 million , the Census Bureau said . Meanwhile , the non-Hispanic white population is not expected to post dramatic gains in the same period . By 2050 , whites are expected to number 203.3 million , slightly increased from the 2008 number of 199.8 million . Whites will comprise 46 percent of the U.S. population by 2050 , down from the current level of 66 percent , the bureau said , as the group is projected to lose population in the 2030s and 2040s . By 2030 , all baby boomers will be age 65 and older -- comprising nearly 20 percent of U.S. residents , or one in five Americans , the bureau said . By 2050 , the 65-and-older age group will increase to 88.5 million , more than doubling its current number of 38.7 million . Meanwhile , the number of those age 85 and older is expected to more than triple , from 5.4 million in 2008 to 19 million by 2050 . Non-Hispanic whites make up most of the baby boomers , Waddington said . `` They 're in a higher mortality rate ... nonminority groups tend to be older and dying off faster '' instead of reproducing at the rate projected for minorities . Obviously , the projections will have `` very strong policy implications , '' he said -- medical care for an increasingly elderly population , for instance , educational needs for increasing numbers of minority children and economic effects for the labor force . `` Who 's going to do the jobs that are characteristically held right now by certain types of people ? '' Waddington said . `` All those things are subject to change . '' The United States is projected to reach the 400 million population milestone in 2039 , according to bureau projections . By 2050 , the population is expected to be 439 million . Of those , 235.7 million are expected to be minorities . As U.S. cities and towns have increasingly become more diverse , Census officials knew the day of a majority minority would come , Waddington said . And `` the aging one is sort of simple , '' he added . `` That 's demography 101 . '' Other highlights from the report released Thursday : . • By 2050 , 62 percent of the nation 's children will be minorities , up from 44 percent today . Of those , 39 percent are projected to be Hispanic , up from 22 percent in 2008 , and 38 percent are projected to be white , down from 56 percent in 2008 . • The percentage of the U.S. population between the ages of 18 and 64 -- the `` working age '' population -- is projected to decrease to 57 percent in 2050 from 63 percent in 2008 . • The working-age population will become more than 50 percent minority in 2039 , and by 2050 will constitute 55 percent of the population . • By 2050 , the working-age population will be more than 30 percent Hispanic , up from 15 percent in 2008 ; 15 percent African-American , up from 13 percent in 2008 ; and 9.6 percent Asian , up from 5.3 percent in 2008 . Waddington said the timelines are not written in stone . `` It 's a projection . And things like the baby boom generation could n't be predicted . '' Major changes in policy affecting families and children , or a major policy affecting immigration , could have an impact on the expectations , he said . The nation 's undocumented workers -- estimated at 12 million or more -- are included in the projections , Waddington said . Census data includes all U.S. residents , regardless of their legal status , he said . CNN 's Ashley Broughton contributed to this report .
Census : By 2050 , 54 percent will be other than non - Hispanic , single - parent families . Number of U.S , citizens older than 65 expected to more than double . Hispanic ##s projected to make the largest increase . Census Bureau says the figures are not written in full .