RODUCTION

report presents a statistical portrait of the Spanish-origin ulation in the United States. The tables and charts in the rt describe the social, economic, and demographic acteristics of persons of Spanish origin in the United es. Comparisons are made between the Spanish-origin the non-Spanish populations, and between the subgories of Spanish origin, namely: Mexican, Puerto Rican, an, Central or South American, and other Spanish origin. Data in this report were collected by the Bureau of the us in the March 1978 Current Population Survey ;); the figures are comparable with Spanish population collected annually in the CPS each March since 1973. data, however, are not directly comparable with Spanishn population data collected in years prior to 1973 use of changes and innovations made in the CPS of ch 1973 (See Current Population Reports, Series P-20, 264, "Persons of Spanish Origin in the United States: ch 1973." published May 1974.) For an explanation of parability with the 1970 census, see the above report; , see page 15 and the appendix of this report.

ulation Size and Distribution

of every 18 persons in the United States in 1978 was of ish origin or descent. About 12 million persons reported origin or descent as either Mexican, Puerto Rican, n, Central or South American or some other Spanish 1. Specifically, the Spanish-origin population in the ed States includes about 7.2 million persons of Mexican 1, 1.8 million of Puerto Rican origin, 700,000 of Cuban 1, and about 2.4 million of Central or South American her Spanish origin. The largest concentration of persons panish origin was in the five Southwestern States and York State (tables A, B, L, and 1; figure 2).

ARACTERISTICS OF PERSONS

The Spanish-origin population in 1978 included a heavy entration of young persons; about 42 percent were r 18 years old, and only about 4 percent were 65 years ind over. By contrast, about 30 percent of the entire

dvance information on the Spanish-origin population collected s survey were published in Current Population Reports, Series No. 328, "Persons of Spanish Origin in the United States: March (Advance Report)."

population of the United States were under 18 years old, and about 11 percent were 65 years old and over. That the Spanish population is a young population is clearly shown by the median age, the age at which half the population is older and half is younger. The median age for persons of Spanish origin in the United States was 22 years compared to a median age of 30 years for the overall population.

In addition, there were significant differences in the median age among the categories of Spanish origin. The Mexican and Puerto Rican-origin populations each had a median age of about 21 years old; the Cuban population, however, had a substantially older median age of 37 years (tables C, 2, and 3; figure 3).

Marital status. There was a greater proportion of single men than of single women among persons of Spanish origin 14 years old and over; about 35 percent of Spanish-origin males were single compared to 28 percent of Spanish-origin women. However, about equal proportions of men and women of Spanish origin were classified as married: about 60 percent of the men and 60 percent of the women. But women of Spanish origin were more likely to be reported as divorced, (7 percent) than were Spanish men (3 percent). Also, because mortality of females is generally lower than for males the proportion of widowed Spanish-origin women was, at 6 percent, substantially higher than the proportion of widowed Spanish men, 1 percent (tables D, 5, and 6; figure 4).