Demographics

On Topic

How old we are, how much education we have, where we were born and where we live have immense implications for our families and for our communities. Brookings experts use demographic data to make informed policy recommendations for issues such as community development, housing and education.

Polling equipment is set and ready at a local polling station in a Milwaukee County Parks building the day before election day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (REUTERS/Darren Hauck).

Paper

Minority Turnout Determined the 2012 Election

May 10, 2013, William H. Frey

In an analysis of voting data from the U.S. Census Bureau, William Frey finds that high minority and low white turnout rates in 2012 were responsible for President Obama winning the national vote, but bigger picture demographic trends bode well for Democrats in coming presidential elections.

Recent Activity

Refine by: U.S. Metro Areas | Immigration | Race and Ethnicity | U.S. States and Territories

Book Chapter | Emerald Group Publishing

Metropolitan Washington: A New Immigrant Gateway

April 2, 2013, Audrey Singer
In the News

More than 70 percent of today's baby boomers and seniors are white, and they grew up during a time when the nation's minority population was relatively small and consisted mainly of African Americans. By contrast, 40 percent of those under age 35 belong to minority groups. They have grown up during a period when racial mingling is the norm at school, work, social occasions and houses of worship.
March 14, 2013, William H. Frey, Phys.org
In the News

The fact that outer suburban growth has continued to falter two years after the recession ended calls into question whether today’s younger generations will hold the same residential preferences as their forebears.
February 26, 2013, William H. Frey, The International
Paper | Population and Development Review 38 (Supplement): 115–129 (2012)

Population, Policy, and Politics: How Will History Judge China’s One-Child Policy?

February 2013, Feng Wang, Yong Cai and Baochang Gu
Opinion | The Huffington Post

How the Politics of Immigration Reform Have Changed

February 5, 2013, Darrell M. West
Interview | National Journal

Three "Must-Knows" Regarding Immigration

January 30, 2013, William H. Frey
In the News

We need to have an immigration policy that recognizes the labor-force needs of this country, whatever they are. Clearly, we focus on the high-skilled workers because they have the greatest productivity for the economy. But low-skilled jobs are important, too. As we get a bigger middle-class population, we will need people to work in many of those lower-skilled jobs which may not be filled with our existing population.
January 30, 2013, William H. Frey, National Journal
In the News

We still are a country that's kind of divided, and a lot of that fissure in the population tends to be based in race and age and ethnicity. There's kind of a dangerous result in this election when we see older whites moving in one direction and younger minorities moving in another direction.
January 21, 2013, William H. Frey
In the News

What’s constant in this country is its ability to adapt—adapt to people with changing backgrounds, people with changing attitudes. But Hispanics really are a very big part of America’s present and future. And they’re not clustered in one area. They’ve been fanning out to all parts of the United States, and by moving into new parts of the country ...they’re becoming accepted by these communities.
January 19, 2013, William H. Frey, USA Today
Paper

The 2012 Election: What Happened, What Changed, What it Means

January 4, 2013, William A. Galston