Spanish Language Here to Stay
Study Shows Spanish Speakers to Increase 45% in Coming Years
A landmark study titled: “The Future Use of The Spanish Language In The USA — Projected to 2015 & 2025” just released by Hispanic U.S.A. Inc. reveals startling results about the dramatic continued growth of Spanish-speakers in America.
The study challenges the assumption that the use of Spanish will decrease in coming years as succeeding generations of Hispanics are born and grow up in this country. In fact, the study shows that the number of Spanish-dominant and bilingual Latinos will increase by 45 percent over the next two decades – adding 12.4 million Spanish-speakers to today’s population.
And it’s not just because of continuing immigration. Unlike other immigrant groups, even third-generation Hispanics – those born to Latino parents who themselves were born in the United States – will continue to speak Spanish in extraordinarily large numbers.
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Among its findings:
- By 2025, the number of Spanish-speaking Latinos in the United States will reach 40.2 million, up from 27.8 million today.
- Fully two-thirds of Hispanics, five and older, will speak Spanish 20 years from now.
- On average, 35 percent of third-generation Latinos in the United States speak Spanish.
- The 18-and-older Spanish-speaking population will increase by 53 percent, to 15.2 million by 2025.
- The key 18-to-49 year old demographic will grow by 7.5 million, and will include 59 percent of all the Spanish speakers.
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Unfortunately, this isn’t a trend that will be found in my family. My brother-in-law seems to take great delight in the fact that his children barely speak Spanish. And nothing I say or do, to him or my sister, seems to make a difference.
We live in Texas, which is now a minority majority state, and where the number of Spanish-speakers is increasing exponentially (it seems). At this point, not speaking Spanish is already a handicap in this state.
