The decline of the non-Hispanic white population in the United States of America

Abstract

Objectives: The question of a declining non-Hispanic white (NHW) population has sparked debate in the United States. In examining this question, three bodies of research have emerged. One group reports that the decline is real, a second argues that it is an illusion, and the third provides evidence that the decline is concentrated within socio-economic segments of the NHW population. We use the third groups’ insight as the starting point for our research objective. Methods: In conjunction with data from Census Bureau sources, we use a series of Regression Models in this inquiry. Results: Our results show that the decline of the NHW population is real and related to factors embedded in the institutional anomie theory (IAT) framework. Conclusions: We conclude that the IAT framework is a suitable approach for examining the question of NHW population decline. However, we suggest that future research consider refining our approach by: (1) using sub-state areas as the units of analyses; (2) examining changes in the NHW population relative to lagged changes in the IAT framework at both the state and sub-state levels; (3) placing our framework into an “algorithmic modeling approach” that employs machine learning; and (4) developing anomie predictors.