Hispanics drive state population growth

Nearly 90 percent of Illinois' population growth since 2000 has come from Hispanics, according to U.S. Census population estimates.

The numbers show that Illinois' Hispanic population grew by 390,000 between 2000 and 2007, while the population of the entire state grew by 433,000.

Hispanic growth in Illinois was driven mostly by natural increase, not immigration, according to Loyola University sociologist and demographer Kenneth Johnson.

Natural increase is the difference between births and deaths. Hispanics have a higher birth rate, and since Hispanics' median age is 9 years younger than the population as a whole, they have a lower death rate, data show.

Illinois had 1.9 million Hispanics in 2007, just short of 15 percent of the state's overall population. Nationwide, the Hispanic percentage of total population topped 15 percent for the first time.

Meanwhile, Illinois' white non-Hispanic population declined by 118,000 in the first seven years of the decade. Johnson attributed the drop to young people leaving the state for work and older people leaving to retire.