Non-Hispanic Whites or Non-Latino Whites are White Americans classified by the United States census as "white" and not Hispanic.[3][4] According to the United States Census Bureau yearly estimates, as of July 1, 2023, Non-Hispanic whites make up about 58.4% of the U.S. population.[5] The United States Census Bureau defines white to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Americans, and North African Americans.[6] Americans of European ancestry are divided into various ethnic groups. More than half of the white population are German, Irish, English, French and Polish Americans. Many Americans are also the product of other European groups that migrated to parts of the US in the 19th and 20th centuries, as the bulk of immigrants from various countries in Northern, Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, as well as the Caucasus region, migrated to the United States.
The Non-Hispanic White population was heavily derived from British, as well as French settlement of the Americas, in addition to settlement by other Europeans such as the Germans (see Pennsylvania Dutch), Swiss, Dutch, Austrians, and Swedes that began in the 17th century (see History of the United States). The early Spanish presence in the country contributed a certain degree of that ancestry to the white population in parts of the south and southwest, as many Americans of Isleño, Basque, or other colonial Spanish heritage do not necessarily identify as "Hispanic or Latino" on the census, or are interchangeable with the "non-Hispanic White" category, as they lack any ties to Latin America, or recent ties to Spain.
Population growth since the early 19th century to the end of the 20th century is attributed to sustained high birth rates alongside relatively low death rates among settlers and natives alike. Population growth has slowed in the 21st century. There has also been periodic massive immigration from European and West Asian countries, especially Germany, Ireland, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Italian, France, as well as Poland, Russia, Norway, Finland, the Czech Republic, the countries that were a part of the former Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Lebanon, and Syria), and European countries like Portugal, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Ukraine and more. Significant migration of Jews of European, North African, and Middle Eastern descent into the United States is also notable.
The classification is also typically used to refer to an English-speaking American, in distinction to Spanish speakers.[7] In some parts of the country,[where?] the term Anglo-American is used to refer to non-Hispanic white English speakers as distinct from Spanish and Portuguese or Italian speakers although the term is more frequently used to refer to people of British or English descent and might include white people of Hispanic descent who no longer speak Spanish.[8][9][10]
The first Europeans who came to present United States or Canada were Norse explorers around the year 1000;[11] however, they were ultimately absorbed or killed off, leaving no permanent settlements behind.[12] In the 1500s Spain founded several settlements in the contiguous United States, like San Agustín. Later, Pilgrims and colonists came in the 1600s along the East Coast, mainly from England, in search of economic opportunities and religious freedom.[13] Over time emigrants from Europe settled the coastal regions developing a commercial economy. Between one-half and two-thirds of White immigrants to the American colonies between the 1630s and American Revolution had come as indentured servants.[14] The total number of European immigrants to all 13 colonies before 1775 was about 500,000; of these 55,000 were involuntary prisoners. Of the 450,000 or so European arrivals who came voluntarily, an estimated 48% were indentured.[15]
By the time of American Revolution there were about 2.5 million Whites in the colonies.[16] The white population was largely of English, Irish, Scotch-Irish, Scottish, German, Dutch and French Huguenot descent at the time.[17] Between the revolution and the 1820s there was relatively little immigration to the United States. Starting after the 1820s large scale migration to the United States began and lasted until the 1920s.[18] Many of the newcomers were Catholics of Irish,[19] Italian,[20] and Polish[21] descent which lead to a nativist backlash. Some Americans worried about the growing Catholic population and wanted to maintain the United States as an Anglo Saxon Protestant nation.[22][23] Over the course of the 19th century, European mass emigration to the United States and high birthrates grew the white population.[24][25][26]
After the American Revolution, white Americans settled the entire nation west of Appalachian Mountains, ultimately displacing the Natives and populating the entire country by the late 19th century. All immigration to the United States declined markedly between the mid-1920s until the 1960s due to a combination of immigration laws, the Great Depression, and World War II.[27] Waves of Jewish, Syrian, and Lebanese immigration also occurred around this time.[28][29][30]
Since 1965 white migration to the United States has been relatively minor compared to other racial and ethnic groups. During the 1990s there was a moderate increase from former communist countries of the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union.[31] At the same time birthrates amongst Whites have fallen below replacement level.[32]In 1980, non-Hispanic whites made up about 80 percent of the U.S. population, but that number has declined sharply in recent years.[33]
White Americans have developed their own music, art, cuisine, fashion, and political economy largely based on a combination of traditional European ones.[34][35] Today, the majority of White Americans are Protestants, although there are also large groups of Catholics and Jews throughout the population.[36] Many Europeans often Anglicized their names and over time most Europeans adopted English as their primary language and intermarried with other white groups.[37][38]
Non-Hispanic Whites are the largest racial and ethnic group in America, being the majority of America's population at 58.4%.[39] Although the percentage has been declining in the last few decades, from 89.5% in 1950 to 59.3% in 2022.[40][39] According to generational data from the 2020 census, the racial diversity of each age group is increasing. White non-Hispanics make up 77% of the population over the age of 75, 67% of the population between the ages of 55 and 64, 55% of the population between the ages of 35 and 44, and just 50% of the population between the ages of 18 and 24.[33] In actual Non-Hispanic whites have still been growing. From 2000 - 2010 the Non-Hispanic White population grew from 194,552,774 to 196,817,552. This was a growth of 1.2% over the 10-year period, due to population momentum.[41] The population continued to grow to 196,817,552 in 2010 to 197,639,521 in 2022.[39]