WASHINGTON — More than 100 million Americans — about one-third of the US population — belongs to a racial minority group, the US Census Bureau said. There are now some 100.7 million minority group members in a US population which reached 300 million in October 2006, according to the Census. Non-Hispanic whites, the majority ethnic group, number some 198.7 million people. Hispanics, the biggest minority group, number 44 million people. African Americans were second-largest minority group (40 million); followed by Asian Americans (14.9 million); Native Americans (4.5 million); and Pacific islanders at around one million. “About one in three US residents is a minority,” said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon.

“To put it into perspective, there are more minorities in this country today than there were people in the United States in 1910.

Hispanics, who comprise 15 percent of the total US population are the fastest growing group in America. Hispanics grew by 1.4 million, or 3.4 percent, between July 2005 and July 2006. The population of white, non-Hispanics grew a mere 0.3 percent in the same period.

Asian-Americans had a rapid 3.2 percent growth rate that rivaled Hispanics’. Native Americans number 4.5 million, while there are a million Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.