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New figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau, project whites will comprise less than half of the population before the middle of this century.

The U.S. Census Bureau calculates that by 2042, Americans who identify themselves as Hispanic, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander will together outnumber non-Hispanic whites.

So-called minorities, the Census Bureau projects, will already constitute a majority of American children under 18 by 2023 and of working-age Americans by 2039.

The main causes for this rapid racial and ethnic changes are higher birth rates among immigrants, increasing immigration and an ageing white population.

By 2050, the number of Hispanic people will nearly triple, to 133 million from 47 million, to account for 30 percent of Americans, compared with 15 percent today. People who say they are Asian, with their ranks soaring to 41 million from 16 million, will make up more than 9 percent of the population, up from 5 percent.

More than three times as many people are expected to identify themselves as multiracial - 16 million, accounting for nearly 4 percent of the population. The population of people who define themselves as black is projected to rise to 66 million from 41 million, but increase its overall share by barely 2 percentage points, to 15 percent.

“What’s happening now in terms of increasing diversity probably is unprecedented,” says retired census demographer Campbell Gibson in the International Herald Tribune. Already today, several states, including California and Texas, have already reached the point where members of minorities are in the majority.