Immigration will drive the population of the United States sharply upward between now and 2050, and will push whites into a minority, projections by the Pew Research Centre showed on Monday.

“If current trends continue, the population of the United States will rise to 438 million in 2050, from 296 million in 2005,” an increase of nearly 50 per cent, the study by the Washington-based think-tank said.

More than 80 per cent of the increase will be due to immigrants arriving in the country and their US-born children, who will make up nearly one in five Americans by 2050 compared with one in eight in 2005, it said. Whites, who currently make up around two-thirds of the US population, will become a minority (47 per cent) by 2050, the report said.

Immigration will drive the population of the United States sharply upward between now and 2050, and will push whites into a minority, projections by the Pew Research Centre showed on Monday.

“If current trends continue, the population of the United States will rise to 438 million in 2050, from 296 million in 2005,” an increase of nearly 50 per cent, the study by the Washington-based think-tank said.

More than 80 per cent of the increase will be due to immigrants arriving in the country and their US-born children, who will make up nearly one in five Americans by 2050 compared with one in eight in 2005, it said. Whites, who currently make up around two-thirds of the US population, will become a minority (47 per cent) by 2050, the report said.