La Raza Report Hightlights Growth And Challenges Of Latino Young Adults In US

Washington, DC—Nearly one in five teens and young adults in the United States is Latino, and three-quarters of these youth are U.S. citizens. These are some of the data outlined in America’s Tomorrow: A Profile of Latino Youth, a new report released by NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S.

The report examines the status of Hispanic youth in the U.S., ages 15 to 24—a population that is on the rise nationwide, from West Virginia to Alaska. According to the data, Latino youth experience high levels of poverty, high dropout rates, low graduation rates, high unemployment rates, and low rates of health insurance. Given that Hispanics will account for about 30% of the U.S. population by 2050, the ability of Latino youth to overcome these barriers today will directly affect the economic and social success of our nation in the future.

The following statistics from the report show that Latino youth are very much a part of the fabric of our nation’s future, and the challenges they face must be addressed immediately:

• Nearly one in five (17.8%) of all youth ages 15–24 in the U.S. is Latino.
• Nearly three in four (74.3%) Latinos ages 15–24 in the U.S. are U.S. citizens.
• Nearly one in four (24.2%) U.S. youth in poverty is Latino.
• More than one in five (21.4%) Hispanics ages 16–24 has dropped out of high school.
• Nearly two in five (37.7%) Latino youth are uninsured.
• Only 72.7% of Hispanics ages 18–24 hold a high school diploma or the equivalent, a percentage markedly lower than that of their Black (88.8%) and White (93.5%) peers.
• The unemployment rate for Latinos ages 20–24 rose by 6.4 percentage points to 16.7% between 2008 and 2009.
• The share of youth who are Latino grew in 45 states between 2000 and 2008, with the highest growth rates occurring in West Virginia, Maine, Arkansas, Alaska, and Louisiana.

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