By 2007, California's population is estimated at 36,553,215, making it the most populated state and the 13th fastest-growing state. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 1,909,368 people (that is 3,375,297 births minus 1,465,929 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 774,198 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 1,724,790 people, and migration within the country produced a net decrease of 950,592.

California is the second most populous state of the Americas, exceeded only by São Paulo State, Brazil. More than 12 percent of U.S. citizens live in California and its population is greater than that of all but 34 countries of the world.

California has eight of the top 50 US cities in terms of population. Los Angeles is the nation's second-largest city with a population of 3,849,378 people, followed by San Diego (8th), San Jose (10th), San Francisco (14th), Long Beach (34th), Fresno (36th), Sacramento (37th) and Oakland (44th). Los Angeles County has held the title of most populous county for decades, and is more populous than 42 US states.

The center of population of California is at the town of Buttonwillow in Kern County.

According to the 2006 ACS Estimates, California's population is:

    * 59.8% White American - includes 17.5% White Hispanic,
    * 6.2% Black or African American,
    * 12.3% Asian American,
    * 0.7% American Indian,
    * 3.3% mixed, and the remaining 17.3% are of Some other Race.
    * 35.9% are Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

California has the largest population of White Americans in the U.S., an estimated 21,810,156 residents. The fifth largest population of African Americans in the U.S., an estimated 2,260,648 residents. California's Asian population is estimated at 4.5 million, approximately one-third of the nation's 14.9 million Asian Americans. California's Native American population of 376,093 is the most of any state.

According to estimates from 2006, California has the largest minority population in the United States, making up 57% of the state population. Non-Hispanic whites decreased from 80% of the state's population in 1970 to 43% in 2006. While the population of minorities accounts for 100.7 million of 300 million U.S. residents, 21% of the national total live in California.

Languages

As of 2000, 60.52% of California residents age five and older spoke English as a first language at home, while 25.80% spoke Spanish. In addition to English and Spanish, 2.44% spoke Chinese (which included Cantonese [0.48%] and Mandarin [0.29%]), 1.99% spoke Filipino (most are native speakers of Ilokano, Cebuano, Tagalog, Pangasinan and Kapampangan), 1.29% spoke Vietnamese, and 0.94% spoke Korean as their mother tongue. In total, 39.47% of the population spoke languages other than English. Over 200 languages are known to be spoken and read in California. Including indigenous languages, California is viewed as one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world (the indigenous languages were derived from 64 root languages in 6 language families). About half of the indigenous languages are no longer spoken, and all of California's living indigenous languages are endangered, although there are now some efforts toward language revitalization.

The official language of California has been English since the passage of Proposition 63 in 1986. However, many state, city, and local government agencies still continue to print official public documents in numerous languages.

Religion

The state has the most Roman Catholics of any state and a large Protestant population, a large American Jewish community, and an American Muslim population.

With a Jewish population estimated at more than 550,000, Los Angeles is the second-largest Jewish community in North America.

California also has the largest Muslim community population in the United States, an estimated 3.4% of the population, mostly residing in Southern California. According to figures, approximately 100,000 Muslims reside in San Diego.

As the twentieth century came to a close, forty percent of all Buddhists in America resided in Southern California. The Los Angeles Metropolitan Area has become unique in the Buddhist world as the only place where representative organizations of every major school of Buddhism can be found in a single urban center. The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Northern California and Hsi Lai Temple in Southern California are two of the largest Buddhist temples in the Western Hemisphere. It also has a growing Hindu population.

California also has more Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than any state except Utah.

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "California".