Study Shows Interracial Marriages Becoming More Prevalent Across USA
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new research study indicates that interracial marriages in America are at an all-time high.
Paul Taylor, executive vice president of the Pew Research Center, says that according to census data and surveys, 15 percent of all new marriages in this country are between partners of different ethnicities.
"This is a big change," he tells KYW Newsradio. "You go back 20 or 30 years, those levels were only half of what they are today."
Philadelphians say the data seem to hold true locally.
"I see it more and more now as I've gotten older," said one man.
But the Pew Research survey also indicates that younger generations tend to be more accepting of interracial marriages than their parents.
"Us older folks, we don't change so easily," said another man.
And this woman agreed: "I mean, I think for the older generations, like my grandparents and stuff, it's still very taboo."
Still, Taylor says, this country has come a long way from the days when interracial relationships were illegal.
"But it's now merely unusual, and with each passing year it's less unusual than it used to be," he says.
So what does intermarriage look like in America? Taylor dissects the data:
"Of all intermarried newlyweds in 2010, 43 percent were white-Hispanic, 14½ percent were white-Asian, 12 percent were white-black, and then 'other mixed,' which is a group that doesn't include whites, is 30 percent."
