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For decades, Latinos were far and away the fastest-growing minority group in America. Driven by both migration and higher birth rates, the are now on the verge of becoming one-fifth of the U.S. population.


But according to new Census data, Asians now represent the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the U.S. The nation's Asian population totaled 21 million as of July 1, 2015, up 683,000, or 3.4%, since July 1, 2014. The Latino population grew 2.2% during the same period. (In fact, Asians' growth rate surpassed that of Latinos in 2013.)

Asian population growth in the U.S. is due largely to net migration, the bureau said. Data from the Migration Policy Institute show that the number of immigrants hailing from Asia, which includes the Middle East, outnumbered those coming from Mexico 12.8 million to 11.7 million in 2014. Chinese immigrants (including Taiwanese and Hong Kong natives) constituted the largest Asian immigrant population, followed by Indians and Filipinos. Southeast Asia was the largest Asian region of origin. Here's a chart showing immigrants by country of origin since 2006.


This image was removed due to legal reasons.

California had the largest Asian population of any U.S. state (6.5 million) as of July 2015. Hawaii was the nation's only majority Asian state (56.0%). Los Angeles County, California, had the largest Asian population of any county (1.7 million) in 2015 and the largest numeric increase (30,200) since 2014. Honolulu County and Kauai County, both in Hawaii, were the nation's only majority Asian counties.

Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.