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Animated Chart: America’s Demographics Over 100+ Years

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Animated: America’s Demographics Over 100+ Years

The United States has famously been called a melting pot, due its demographic makeup of various cultures, races, religions, and languages. But what shape does that mixture take? And how has it changed over time?

Beginning over 100 years ago, this video from Kaj Tallungs assesses how America’s demographics have changed from 1901 to 2020. It uses data from multiple sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Center for Health Statistics, and the Human Mortality Database.

A Look at the Total Population

The most obvious takeaway from this animation is that America’s population has soared over the last century. America’s population grew from 77 million in 1901 to over 330 million in 2020—or total growth of 330% over the 119 years.

And the U.S. has continued to add to its population totals. Here’s a brief look at at the population in 2021 by regional breakdowns:

RegionPopulation (2021)Share of Total Population
South127,225,32938.3%
West78,667,13423.7%
Midwest68,841,44420.7%
Northeast57,159,83817.2%

And here’s a glance at how some of the population shakes out, across the top 10 most populous states in the country:

RankStatePopulation (2021)
#1California39,237,836
#2Texas29,527,941
#3Florida21,781,128
#4New York19,835,913
#5Pennsylvania12,964,056
#6Illinois12,671,469
#7Ohio11,780,017
#8Georgia10,799,566
#9North Carolina10,551,162
#10Michigan10,050,811

Demographic Breakdowns

Diving a little deeper, the country’s demographic breakdowns have also changed significantly over the last 100+ years. While the share of men and women is an obvious near-even split, age and race distributions have changed drastically.

For starters, though birth rates have remained fairly strong in the U.S., they have been slowing over time. This is similar to many other Western countries, and can eventually result in a larger share of elderly people as well as an increased financial cost of subsidizing their care. Additionally, fewer births results in a depleting workforce as the young population shrinks.

The shares of Black, Asian, Hispanic, and people of two or more races have also been growing. In fact, between 2010–2020 the population of people identifying as two races or more increased by a whopping 276%.

Here’s a glance at some of the other demographic growth rates over the 2010-2020 period:

  • Black or African American alone population: +5.6%
  • Asian alone population: +35.5%
  • Hispanic or Latino alone population: +23%
  • White population: -9%

Looking Ahead

Like many countries, a “graying” of the population will become a concern in the United States.

By 2060, it is expected that 95 million Americans will be over 65. But the share of those 18 and under will also continue to grow (albeit at a much slower pace) from 74 million people in 2020 to 80 million in 2060.

Another interesting insight from the Census Bureau is that from 2016–2060, the American-born population is expected to grow by only 20%, whereas the foreign-born population—the share of population who will immigrate to the U.S.—is expected to rise 58%.

True to the melting pot moniker, America’s demographics will continue to change dramatically over the coming decades.

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This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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Which Countries Have the Most Spanish Speakers?

Mexico is the undisputed leader in Spanish speakers with 132.4 million speakers, more than double the next closest country

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Ranked: Countries by Number of Spanish Speakers

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

From bustling Madrid to the streets of Mexico City, Spanish echoes across continents as the world’s fourth-most spoken language, as of 2023.

Among United Nations member states and dependencies, Spanish also ranks as one of the most common official languages, surpassed only by English, French, and Arabic

This graphic visualizes the number and share of Spanish speakers in the top 20 countries with the most Spanish speakers, with native speakers and limited proficiency speakers included.

Figures for the number of Spanish speaker and population of Spanish-speaking countries comes from Instituto Cervantes for 2024, and population data used to calculate the share of Spanish speakers for the U.S, EU-27, and the UK come from the U.S. Census Bureau, Eurostat, and UK Office for National Statistics respectively.

Mexico Has Most Spanish Speakers

In the table below, we show the data for the number of Spanish speakers, the 2024 population, and the share of Spanish speakers in 20 countries.

Country/RegionTotal Spanish SpeakersPopulation (2024)Share of Spanish Speakers
🇲🇽 Mexico132,410,920132,490,415100%
🇺🇸 United States57,253,801341,004,89617%
🇨🇴 Colombia52,695,95252,695,952100%
🇪🇸 Spain48,107,46848,446,59499%
🇦🇷 Argentina46,846,84546,846,845100%
🇵🇪 Peru31,432,45535,371,49689%
🇻🇪 Venezuela29,395,33429,395,334100%
🇪🇺 European Union (EU-27)29,314,000449,200,0007%
🇨🇱 Chile20,086,37720,086,377100%
🇬🇹 Guatemala16,783,08117,843,13294%
🇪🇨 Ecuador16,599,84417,142,25497%
🇧🇴 Bolivia12,171,85612,332,25299%
🇨🇺 Cuba11,080,75611,174,58799%
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic10,792,33210,792,332100%
🇭🇳 Honduras9,892,6329,892,632100%
🇵🇾 Paraguay7,609,4467,656,21599%
🇳🇮 Nicaragua7,143,8477,143,847100%
🇸🇻 El Salvador6,399,4716,399,471100%
🇨🇷 Costa Rica5,309,6275,309,627100%
🇬🇧 United Kingdom5,099,25968,300,0007%

Mexico is the undisputed leader in Spanish speakers with 132.4 million speakers, more than double the next closest country (U.S. with 57.3 million). While Mexico is home to the most native Spanish speakers, about 6.1% of its population in 2020 cited speaking an Indigenous language.

The U.S. and the UK are home to a significant number of Spanish speakers, reflecting decades of Latin American immigration patterns.

In fact, the U.S. is home to more Spanish speakers than Spain itself, which isn’t much of a surprise given the countries’ population difference.

Despite having a population nearly seven times larger (341 million vs. 48 million), the U.S. only marginally surpasses Spain in total Spanish speakers (57.3 million vs. 48.1 million).

Spanish evolved from Vulgar Latin spoken in the Iberian Peninsula, incorporating influences from Visigothic, Arabic, and local indigenous languages during centuries of migration and conquest.

The language spread to the Americas through Spanish colonization beginning in the late 15th century, when conquistadors and missionaries imposed Spanish as the dominant language.

However, its dominance evolved over time through complex interactions that included both the suppression and absorption of indigenous languages like Nahuatl and Quechua, as well as strategic alliances that helped some languages thrive.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Interested in more linguistic data visualizations? Check out this graphic that visualizes the current global landscape of languages that could become extinct, created by Stephen Jones from Visual Capitalist’s Creator Program.

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