By 2021, children of color will make up the majority of Colorado’s under-18 population, a milestone that will be achieved in part because of the rapid growth of children born to immigrant parents, according to data compiled by the Colorado Children’s Campaign.

The change in the state’s demographic landscape reflects what is happening around the country, said Lisa Piscopo of the children’s campaign.

The report, released Wednesday, predicts the demographic shift will have broad implications for the state’s economy and education system, and it calls on state leaders to ensure that children of immigrants aren’t left behind.

“It’s important for all Coloradans’ well-being that we give as many children as possible the best chance to succeed,” Piscopo said. “These children are going to be our future workforce, so we would like them to be as skilled as possible.”

Children of color already make up half the young people in 15 Colorado counties, including Denver, Adams, Arapahoe and Pueblo, as well as much of the San Luis Valley.

In 2009, nearly a quarter of Colorado’s kids — about 254,000 — were children of immigrant parents, and the vast majority, about 87 percent, were born in this country.

Nationwide, growth of the immigrant population has slowed, at least partly because current economic woes have dried up the supply of low-wage jobs.

But if children born to immigrants are going to succeed in Colorado, they have many obstacles to overcome.

The good news for these children is that they are more likely to live in two-parent households than kids whose parents were born in the U.S., the study found.

Despite that, children in immigrant families in Colorado are nearly twice as likely to live in poverty as children whose parents were born in the U.S., and more than half of all Colorado children in immigrant families live in low-income households.

Nationally, Colorado’s income gap between immigrant and non-immigrant families is second only to Nebraska’s, according to the study.

Kids of immigrant parents are also less likely to do well in school. Last year in Colorado, only 5 percent of fourth-graders who are not native English speakers could read at grade level. By comparison, 45 percent of fourth-graders fluent in English could read at grade level. That achievement gap was the second greatest in the country, according to the children’s campaign data.

That is one reason the report emphasizes the need to connect immigrants’ children with early-education programs.

Robert Munoz of El Comite in Longmont said families he works with through his nonprofit immigrant-advocacy agency understand the importance of getting their kids into programs such as Head Start.

But the children’s campaign found there are plenty of obstacles for parents who want to start their children’s education early. One of the biggest is the cost of educational preschool programs and, often, even kindergarten.

Lately, Munoz has noticed another trend that bodes well for immigrants’ children.

“I’m seeing more and more people wanting to learn English,” including the parents of those children, he said.

That is good news, because immigrants and their children are here to stay, Piscopo said.

Even if not a single additional immigrant entered the state, the growth trend would probably continue, the report concludes.

Such growth is driven by immigrants who are already here having children, not by those coming into the country.

“That train,” Piscopo said, “has already left the station.”

Karen Auge: 303-954-1733 or kauge@denverpost.com