The population of the United States rose 9.8 percent to 248.7 million people during the past decade, the Census Bureau said Sunday, an increase of more than 22 million residents.
The figures showed a huge increase in the American Indian, Eskimo or Aleut population - up by 37.9 percent. The number of black Americans rose by 13.2 percent and the white population grew by 6 percent.The Census Bureau released the 1990 population figures in comparison with the 1980 numbers. The total number of Americans in 1980 was 226,545,805. Ten years later, the number had grown to 248,709,873.
There also was a sharp increase in the number of residents of Hispanic origin - a 53 percent rise, from 14.6 million to 22.3 million, the Census Bureau said.
The number of people with Asian or Pacific Island ethnic backgrounds rose 107.8 percent, but the Census Bureau noted that the figures were "not entirely comparable" because of different tabulation methods.
Because of a lawsuit filed by a number of major U.S. cities, charging that the census had not counted many inner-city residents, the numbers are subject to change. The Census Bureau has agreed to make a "possible correction" for undercounting or overcounting by July 15.