State Shows 69.2% Rise in Latino Population

Businesses will respond more quickly than the government to the dramatic 69.2% increase during the 1980s of the state’s Latino population, predicts demographics expert Leobardo Estrada.

Figures from the 1990 Census released last month show that Latinos make up nearly one-third of the population in the six-county Southern California region and one-fourth of the state population. California’s 7.7 million Latinos outnumber the entire populations of all but the eight largest states in the nation.

“The private sector will see the new Latino statistics as a marketing opportunity--a 40% share in Los Angeles is too large to ignore,” Estrada said. “But I’m afraid that government and public service agencies will see the statistics as a demand they cannot respond to.”

Because a large part of the Latino population is under 18, Estrada said, he fears “a possible sacrifice of part of this new generation, in which the demand for education and health care cannot be met. We already see overcrowded health care centers and schools moving to year-round schedules.”

The California population data documented what had become increasingly clear during the 1980s: a strong presence by Latinos, who as recently as 20 years ago made up less than 12% of California’s total. Among the findings:

* The Latino population increase since 1980 was nearly five times the percentage growth of the non-Latino population statewide.

* The state’s Asian population also grew rapidly during the 1980s, surpassing the Latino community’s percentage increase. The state’s racial-ethnic breakdown is Anglos, 57.2%; Latinos, 25.8%; Asians, 9.1%; blacks, 7%, and American Indians and others, 1%.

* Los Angeles County has 3.3 million Latinos, 37.8% of the county’s total population. It has grown by 1.3 million Latinos since 1980.

* The population of the city of Los Angeles is 40% Latino. Among municipal areas with large percentages of Latinos are East Los Angeles, 95%; Maywood, 93%; Huntington Park, 92%; Bell Gardens, 88%, Irwindale, 86%, and San Fernando, 83%.

* Among the state’s 10 largest cities, Anaheim recorded the highest percentage increase of Latinos, 122%, for a Latino population of 83,755. Santa Ana jumped 111%, to 191,383, and Long Beach’s Latino population doubled during the decade to 101,419.

Some demographers had expected the Latino population surge of the 1960s and ‘70s to slow down during the 1980s, particularly after the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed.

“A combination of factors, such as employer sanctions, increased enforcement along the U.S. borders, a recessionary economy, increased unemployment and high prices for housing, were expected to make immigration to the U.S. much less attractive,” Estrada said. “In retrospect, those factors did not reduce immigration flows at all.”

Along with a continuing influx of Mexican immigrants, who crossed the border both legally and illegally, experts say that more than a half million Central American refugees arrived in Southern California during the 1980s.

Armed with the census data, Latino community leaders say that they will press for equitable political representation, starting with the drawing of new congressional, state and local districts.

“The numbers will not translate immediately into votes,” Estrada said, “because Latino growth is overwhelmingly due to new babies, who cannot vote until they reach 18, and immigrants, most of whom are not eligible to register to vote.

“But I see numbers around which it should be possible to create several Latino-majority state Assembly and U.S. congressional seats and even a couple of new state Senate seats,” he said.

The state’s population spurt to 29.7 million during the 1980s will mean a gain of seven seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Harry Pachon, national director of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, said that the drawing of district lines for congressional and legislative seats will be crucial.

Latinos hold three of California’s 45 seats in the House of Representatives, and Pachon sees a good chance of gains with the creation of possibly three more congressional districts in heavily Latino areas.

After the redistricting, Pachon envisions a “golden window of political opportunity” in the 1992 congressional election “when Latinos will have to mobilize to get people into office.” Once a candidate wins a congressional race, he has “a 90% probability of being reelected,” Pachon said.

The number of local Latino officials in California has risen by more than 25% in the past five years, according to Pachon.

Although the numerical population gains in Los Angeles city and county are significant, Estrada said, “I am most impressed by the Latino increases in Riverside County (147%), San Bernardino County (128%) and Orange County (97%).

The suburbs increasingly are becoming ports of entry for many immigrants and not the second or third stop on the way to home ownership and middle-class living for the upwardly mobile, said Estrada, a UCLA professor of urban studies and a census adviser to the U.S. secretary of commerce.

A concerted effort was made in 1990 to get an accurate count of Latinos and other minorities. Several cities, including Los Angeles, had anticipated an undercount of minorities and filed suit against the Commerce Department, which oversees the census. A decision is pending on whether the figures will be adjusted through a controversial sampling method.

The Rising Numbers in L.A.

The proportion of Latinos in Los Angeles County has increased since 1950 from 6.9% to 37.8% of the population.

1950

County total: 4,151,687

Latinos: 287,614 (6.9%)

1960

County total: 6,038,771

Latinos: 576,716 (9.5%)

1970

County total: 7,041,980

Latinos: 1,045,958 (14.8%)

1980

County total: 7,477,503

Latinos: 2,065,503 (27.6%)

1990

County total: 8,863,164

Latinos: 3,351,242 (37.8%)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

BACKGROUND

The Census Bureau’s terminology and definitions of Latinos have varied historically since 1860 when “Mexican foreign born” was used. In 1980 and 1990, the Census Bureau decided to use the term “Hispanics,” instead of Latino--a term widely used on the West Coast. The 1990 Census form asked respondents: “Is this person of Spanish/Hispanic origin?” It then asked respondents to indicate if they were Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban or other Spanish/Hispanic group. The Census Bureau later will release additional demographic information, including the size of the major Latino subgroups.

ETHNIC BREAKDOWN

Ethnic groups as percent of 1990 population:

Area Anglo Black Asian Am. Ind. Other Latino CALIFORNIA 57.2% 7.0% 9.1% 0.6% 0.2% 25.8% LOS ANGELES COUNTY 40.8% 10.5% 10.2% 0.3% 0.2% 37.8% ORANGE COUNTY 64.5% 1.6% 10.0% 0.4% 0.1% 23.4% RIVERSIDE COUNTY 64.4% 5.1% 3.3% 0.7% 0.2% 26.3% SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY 60.8% 7.7% 3.9 0.7% 0.2% 26.7% SAN DIEGO COUNTY 65.4% 6.0% 7.4% 0.6% 0.2% 20.4% VENTURA COUNTY 65.9% 2.2% 4.9% 0.5% 0.1% 26.4% *SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 52.0% 7.7% 8.6% 0.4% 0.2% 31.1%

* Regional total for six southern counties.

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census

Compiled by : Richard O’Reilly and Maureen Lyons, Los Angeles Times