AFRICAN AMERICANS: FAST FACTS
- U.S. population: over 49 million
- In 1890, 90% of all Blacks lived in the rural South
- By 1970, 81% of Blacks were concentrated in urban areas
BAR GRAPH
Figure 1: Population & Projections of Black Persons Aged 65+
MAP
Figure 2: U.S. States with the Largest African American Populations
Population Growth and Distribution
The African American population today is comprised of individuals of mixed ethnic and cultural heritage. The slave trade resulted in a diaspora from West and Central Africa to many parts of the world, including the West Indies, South America, Central America, and the United States.
Over the centuries in all of these parts of the world, the African has mixed with other local ethnic groups. In America this intermixing has largely been with American Indians and European Americans.
There has been continuous growth in the overall population of Blacks in the United States since 1790. In 1790, the year of the first U.S. census, the Black population numbered about 757,000. Since 1970 there has been considerable growth in the population of Blacks.
The growth in the proportion of Blacks 65 and over since 1970, in comparison to the growth rate of Blacks under 18 years and those 18 to 64 years, shows a considerably more rapid rate for the older group than for the younger age groups.
This pattern is accounted for in part by a decline in the fertility rate among Blacks that began in the late 1960s. Given an expectation of (1) a continuing decline in the fertility rate, (2) further improvements in health care, and (3) increased life expectancy of Blacks, this pattern of growth in the number of persons 65 and over is expected to continue (Watson, 1982).
By 2021, the population of Blacks in the United States totaled more than 49 million people. In 2020 over 55.8 million Americans are aged 65 and over. Over the next thirty years, the number of people aged 65 and older is expected to double and the number of people aged 85 and older is expected to triple and rise to almost 10 million aged 65 and over by 2050 (https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/05/2020-census-united-states-older-population-grew.html). Data on the subgroups of Haitian older adults or those from African or other Caribbean backgrounds are not available.
Changes in Geographic Distribution
Along with growth in the population of Blacks, there have been noticeable changes in their geographical distribution in the United States. In 1890, the year of the first census in which data were made available on urban-rural distribution of Blacks, 90% of all Blacks lived in the rural southern United States.
By 1970, however, the 1890 patterns were reversed: about 81% of Blacks had become concentrated in urban areas.
In 2019, Pew Research Center named the following 5 states as having the highest Black population:
- Texas 3.9 million
- Florida 3.8 million
- New York 3.4 million
- California 2.8 million
Previously, in 2006, New York had the highest Black population. It has now dropped to 4th place in the list of locations with the highest Black population. However, New York still ranks first in Black population for metropolitan areas.[https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2021/03/25/the-growing-diversity-of-black-america/]
