California will get bigger, older, more diverse

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – By 2020, California will be more crowded, its population older and its racial makeup dominated by Hispanics, according to a report released Tuesday.

The changes will pose challenges to state lawmakers, who will have to grapple with additional pressures on already strained schools and health care systems, according to the report by the California Budget Project.

In just 15 years, one in seven Californians will be age 65 or older, the state will add 10 million residents, and Hispanics will account for 43 percent of the population, with whites accounting for about 34 percent.

The white and Hispanic populations are expected to become equal in 2010, when each is projected to account for 39 percent of the population, said Barbara Baran, associate director of the organization and the report’s author.

The report, “Planning for California’s Future,” examined Census data and figures from the California Department of Finance. While it doesn’t offer recommendations, its intent is to warn lawmakers of the coming shifts.

“The message here is really that this is what’s coming. This is what’s in front of us,” Baran said. “This is the beginning of another budget cycle, and we need to take an approach that is longer term, that doesn’t look at isolated issues.”