The latest Census figures show that the country’s white population could become a minority as soon as…next year.

No big news, right? We’ve been that hearing for years. But these latest numbers show that massive geographic shifts are taking place in areas of the country not traditionally thought of as ethnically diverse, like the South and middle America.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Census reported that babies of color accounted for more than 48 percent of the total amount of children born between July of 2008 and 2009. Even though a tough economy and harsher immigration policies have slowed the number of babies of color being born in recent years, they’re still more of them arriving in the world than whites. Among Latinos, there were roughly nine births for every one death, while whites had a one-to-one ratio. Similarly, whites are having fewer children and, by marrying more interracially, are having more multiracial kids.

While people of color have already been majorities in states like Texas and California, other states, like North Carolina, are quickly entering the fray. In Charlotte and surrounding Mecklenburg County, whites are just more than 50 percent of the population. Thirty years ago it was slightly more than 70 percent. And as proof, there’s a statue of Ghandi in front of the town courthouse.

As Kai Wright pointed out in his commentary awhile back, some white folks are already on the defensive about the demographic changes.

Photo Credit: U.S. Census Bureau, Public Information Office