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Article snippet: The national population is growing older and more diverse than ever before, according to new Census Bureau numbers released Thursday. The nation’s median age is 37.9 years old, more than two years higher than the median age in 2000, according to new Census Bureau numbers released Thursday. The number of Americans over 65 years old has jumped from 35 million at the turn of the century to 49.2 million today. Whites continue to be the biggest racial group in America, accounting for 256 million people in 2016. But their population grew by only 0.5 percent, fueled largely by immigration; non-Hispanic whites experienced a natural decrease of 163,000, meaning more whites died than were born last year. The Asian American population grew by 3 percent, to 21.4 million last year. The African American population jumped 1.2 percent, to 46.8 million, and the Hispanic population expanded by 2 percent, to 57.5 million. “We’re becoming more diverse, from the bottom of the age structure up,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. The population of younger whites has shrunk every year since at least 2000, Frey said. “To the extent that the white population is growing at all, it’s in that 55 and older population.” That graying of America comes as the Baby Boom generation born between 1946 and 1964 edges toward retirement. At the same time, younger Americans are going through what some demographers call a baby bust, either choosing not to have children or dela... Link to the full article to read more