Latino-owned businesses in the United States are growing more than twice as fast as the national average, according to Forbes Magazine. The trend has been sustained for at least the last decade and experts say it will continue for another decade.

More from Forbes Magazine contributor Evangeline Gomez

More Latino-owned businesses are expected to increase their total revenue contribution to the economy by 8% annually over the 10 years from 2005 to 2015. This is more than three times the average growth for all businesses. What does this mean: Latinos will have more economic clout, employ a greater proportion of the population and purchase substantially more in goods and services than they do today. Already this trend has had a major impact in states with large Latino populations. For example, more than 20 % of all businesses in New Mexico, Florida and Texas are owned by Latinos, and even in the state with the largest economy, California, the figure is fast approaching 20%.

The number of Latino-owned businesses with more than $1 million in revenue grew to over 44,000 in 2007, up from just 29,000 five years earlier.