53 million Hispanics constitute 17 percent of U.S. population

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- As of July 1, 2012, the 53 million Hispanics in the United States constituted 17 percent of the country's population, the Census Bureau said.

However, by 2060, the Census Bureau projects, the U.S. Hispanic population will be almost 129 million, or 31 percent of the nation's population at that time.

As of 2010, only Mexico's 112 million had a larger Hispanic population than the United States.

Sixty-five percent of the Hispanic-origin people in the United States who were of Mexican background in 2011, while 9.4 percent were of Puerto Rican background, 3.8 percent Salvadoran, 3.6 percent Cuban, 3.0 percent Dominican and 2.3 percent Guatemalan. The remainder was of some other Central American, South American or other Hispanic/Latino origin, the Census Bureau said.

Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas all have a population of 1 million or more Hispanic residents in 2012.

At 47 percent, New Mexico had the highest percentage of Hispanics of any state, but California had the highest number of Hispanics of any state at 14.5 million.