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Hispanics now make up 22% of all children under the age of 18 in the United States–up from 9% in 1980. More than 16 million children in the United States are Hispanic. Projections by the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that by 2025, nearly three-in-ten children in this country will be of Latino ancestry. 89% of them are born in the United States and 11% are born outside the United States. This translates into meaning: nearly nine-in-ten Hispanic children, under the age of 18, born in the United States are U.S. citizens but keep their cultural roots.
An analysis made by the Pew Hispanic Center, based on the Census, says that 52 % of these children are second generation — born in the United States with at least one parent who immigrated from a Latin American country.
11% of the Hispanic children are first generation — born in a Latin American country, and then migrating to the United States. 37% of them are third generation, or children of parents that were born in the United States, but managing to maintain their Hispanic heritage.
According to The Pew Hispanic Center, 43% of the first generation Latino children are not fluent in English, as well as 23% of second generation and 11% of the third generation. The first generation of Latino children -foreign born- experience better outcomes, than the third generation or higher, the study says. These children are less likely than the children of U.S. Born Latinos to have low birth weights, to die within the first year of life, or experience a variety of childhood health problems, (Hernandez 1999).
