By Adrian Florido
New Census data show the number of multiracial people in the U.S. has grown significantly since 2010.
Estimates released earlier this month show that as of last year, there were 7.5 million people who identify as being of more than one race living in the U.S.
That’s only about 2.5 percent of the nation’s population. But since 2010, that population has grown at a rate four times larger than the population as a whole.
Researchers have explained the growth in multiracial Americans in part as the result of a growing acceptance of interracial marriage. A recent Pew study found that in 2008, one in seven new marriages in the U.S. were between people of different races or ethnicities.
And an even larger percentage of Americans said they approved of the idea of interracial marriage. More than 60 percent of Americans surveyed by Pew said it would be fine with them if a family member told them they were going to marry someone of a different race.