The term "Latino" was officially adopted in 1997 by the United States Government in the ethnonym "Hispanic or Latino", which replaced the single term "Hispanic".^[7] U.S. official use of the term "Hispanic" has its origins in the 1970 census. The Census Bureau attempted to identify all Hispanics by use of the following criteria in sampled sets:^[8]

• Spanish speakers and persons belonging to a household where Spanish was spoken
• Persons with Spanish heritage by birth location
• Persons who self-identify with Spanish ancestry or descent

Neither "Hispanic" nor "Latino" refers to a race, as a person of Latino or Hispanic ethnicity can be of any race.^[9][6] Like non-Latinos, a Latino can be of any single race: White/Caucasian, Black/African American, Asian, Native American, or Pacific Islander. Again like non-Latinos, some may identify with more than one race, such as Mestizo (a bi-racial person of White/Caucasian and Native American descent), Mulatto (a person of White/Caucasian and Black/African American descent), Zambo (a person of Native American and Black/African American descent) or any other race or combination.

Although as officially defined in the United States, "Latino" does not include Brazilian Americans,^[5][6] and specifically refers to "Spanish culture or origin",^[5][6] some of the dictionary definitions may include them and/or Brazilian people in general. Furthermore, Hispanic or Latino origin is, like race, a matter of self-identification in the US, and government and non-government questionnaires, including the census form,^[10] usually contain a blank entry space wherein respondents can indicate a Spanish/Hispanic/Latino origin other than the few (Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban) which are specified; presumably, Brazilian Americans (and others) can thus self–identify as being of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. However, Brazilian Americans are not included with Hispanics and Latinos in the government's population reports.^[11][6]

Some authorities of American English maintain a distinction between the terms "Hispanic" and "Latino":

Demographics

See also: Demographics of the United States and Racial and ethnic demographics of the United States

Hispanic Population by state (2006)^[31] State   Population   % of state
population   New Mexico 860,687 44.0 California 13,074,155 35.9 Texas 8,385,118 35.7 Arizona 1,803,377 29.2 Nevada 610,051 24.4 Florida 3,642,989 20.1 Colorado 934,410 19.7 New York 3,139,590 16.3 New Jersey 1,364,699 15.6 Illinois 1,888,439 14.7

As of July 1, 2007, Hispanics accounted for 15.1% of the national population, or around 45.4 million people. The Hispanic growth rate over the April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2007 period was 28.7% — about four times the rate of the nation's total population (at 7.2%).^[32] The growth rate from July 1, 2005 to July 1, 2006 alone was 3.4%^[33] — about three and a half times the rate of the nation's total population (at 1.0%).^[32] The projected Hispanic population of the United States for July 1, 2050 is 102.6 million people, or 24.4% of the nation’s total projected population on that date.^[34]

Of the nation's total Hispanic or Latino population, 49% (21.5 million) lives in California or Texas. Not counting Puerto Rico — which is a territorial possession of the United States — New Mexico is the state with the highest ratio of Hispanics, where 44.7% is of Hispanic origin. Next are California and Texas, with 35.9% and 35.6%, respectively.^[35]

Density of Hispanic or Latino residents (2000 Census data)

Percentage of Hispanic or Latino residents by county (2000 Census data)

The overwhelming majority of Mexican Americans are concentrated in the Southwest, primarily in California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. The majority of the Hispanic population in the Southeast, concentrated in Florida, are of Cuban origin. The Hispanic population in the Northeast, concentrated in New York, New Jersey, and Eastern Pennsylvania, is composed mostly of Puerto Ricans; however, the Dominican population has risen considerably since the mid-1990s. The remainder of Hispanics and Latinos, composed of various Central American and South American origins, may be found throughout the country, though South Americans tend to concentrate on the East Coast and Central Americans on the West Coast.

The Hispanic population of Los Angeles County, California, numbering 4.7 million, is the largest of any county in the nation,^[36] comprising 47 percent of the county's ten million residents.^[37]

As of 2000, the ten most populous places with Hispanic majorities were East Los Angeles (97% Hispanic), Laredo, Texas (94%), Brownsville, Texas (91%) Hialeah, Florida (90%), McAllen, Texas (80%), El Paso, Texas (77%), Santa Ana, California (76%), El Monte, California (72%) Oxnard, California (66%), and Miami (66%).^[38]

Population by national origin (2007)
(self-identified ethnicity, rather than birthplace) ^[39] Hispanic Group   Population   %   Mexican 29,189,334 64.3 Puerto Rican 4,114,701 9.1 Cuban 1,608,835 3.5 Salvadoran 1,473,482 3.2 Dominican 1,198,849 2.6 Guatemalan 859,815 1.9 Colombian 797,195 1.8 Honduran 527,154 1.2 Ecuadorian 523,108 1.2 Peruvian 470,519 1.0 Spaniard 353,008 0.8 Nicaraguan 306,438 0.7 Argentine 194,511 0.4 Venezuelan 174,976 0.4 Panamanian 138,203 0.3 Costa Rican 115,960 0.3 Chilean 111,461 0.2 Bolivian 82,434 0.2 Uruguayan 48,234 0.1 Paraguayan 20,432 0.04 Other Central American 111,513 0.2 Other South American 77,898 0.2 All other 2,880,536 6.3 Total 45,378,596 100

Some 64% of the nation's Hispanic population are of Mexican origin (see table). Another 9% are of Puerto Rican origin, with about 3% each of Cuban, Salvadoran and Dominican origins. The remainder are of other Central American or South American origin, or of origin directly from Spain. About 7% are of unspecified national origins. It should be noted that these figures pertain to ethnic self-identification, since the same dataset (abstracted from the 2007 American Community Survey) indicates that 60.2% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans were born in the United States.^[40]

There are few recent immigrants directly from Spain. In the 2000 Census, 299,948 Americans, of whom 83% were native-born,^[41] specifically reported their ancestry as Spaniard.^[42][43]

In northern New Mexico and southern Colorado live peoples who trace their ancestry to Spanish settlers of the late 16th century through the 17th century. People from this background often self-identify as "Hispano", "Spanish", or "Hispanic". Many of these settlers also intermarried with local Amerindians, creating a mestizo population.^[44] Likewise, southern Louisiana is home to communities of people of Canary Islands descent, known as Isleños, in addition to other people of Spanish ancestry.

Hispanics are almost uniformly Christian, with Catholicism the majority confession and an increasing Protestant community.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_and_Latino_Americans