Hispanic residents drive Florida's population growth

A boom in Hispanic residents during the past 10 years drove most of Florida's population growth to a total of 18,801,310, according the U.S. census 2010 count released Thursday. That's up nearly 18 percent from the 15,982,378 people the Census Bureau counted in 2000. The growth in minority populations helped tip Broward, Orange and Osceola counties to become so-called minority-majorities. In each, along with four others statewide, non-Hispanic white residents now make up less than 50 percent of the population. They join Miami-Dade, Hendry and Gadsden counties, which were populated by minority-majorities in the 2000 census, plus Hardee County, which became minority-majority last year.