The federal government released the final demographic information from the 2010 Census Thursday (previous data excluded demographics for Maine, New York and the District of Columbia).  To no one’s surprise, those identifying themselves as Hispanic account for the majority of the population growth in the decade since the last national census.

The Hispanic population now numbers 50 million, making Hispanics the largest minority population in the country.  The population rose by 15 million in the last 10 years, representing a growth rate of 43%.

A report from the Pew Hispanic Center takes a closer look at the census demographics.  According to the findings, Hispanic youth now account for nearly 25% of the country’s population under the age of 17.

A majority of the country’s Latinos live in nine states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York and Texas. Latinos now represent more than one in four people in California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Nevada. Southern states such as South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky saw some of the highest increases nationwide in the last 10 years. 

In the 2000 Census, Hispanics and Blacks represented the virtually the same statistical percentage of the population, but now a gap has emerged.  The increase in the Latino population will have political ramifications.  It is unclear what these ramifications will be in states like South Carolina, Alabama and the other states where the Latino population doubled in the last 10 years, but look to Latinos to have more political clout in the 2012 national elections.