From 1960 to 1980, the number of interracial couples in the United States rose by 535 percent, to nearly 2 percent of all married couples. Preliminary analysis of the 1990 census shows that the number of racially intermarried couples now constitutes 2.7 percent of the total. Waters consults with the U.S. Bureau of the Census on how to ask questions dealing with multiracial ancestry or identity. Now it's all mixed up. Everything's politically driven, due to federal funding for programs and voting districts.
Minority groups fear their numbers going down.
The bars show how respondents designated the race of children in their households. Waters's analysis of the 1980 and 1990 censuses shows enormous change, flux, and inconsistency over the life course of individuals and between generations. Waters speculates that the growth reflects increasing numbers of people of Hispanic origin who marked this option, as well as increasing numbers of mixed race individuals.