One way to look at this information, gathered and displayed by Pew Research, is that the older America gets, the more Amazonian (a society of women in Greek mythology) it becomes (men were not made for old age).
Also there is this:
In 1960, the population of the United States was 85% white; by 2060, it will be only 43% white. We were once a black and white country. Now, we’re a rainbow.
What officially initiated this demographic trend is, of course, the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which ended preference to European immigrants. But why did this happen at all? Why did the US open its doors to other colors? Was this act an expression of increasing racial tolerance? A nation that was becoming more liberal and less hateful? I doubt it. Here is my best guess: The answer will be found in the link between capitalism and demographics.
This is one of the insights in Danny Dorling’s wonderfully messy book Population 10 Billion, that capitalism and the demographic explosion in 19th century Europe cannot be separated. In the light of this reading, the big question is: Why is the US not growing as slowly as Japan, another advanced capitalist society? The answer: The latter did not and will never replenish its aging population with immigrants.
So why did the US open its doors to all others? Because Europe’s economy was flourishing in 1965, ten years before the end of the Trente Glorieuses (30 glorious years), and as a consequence not supplying enough bodies for American capital. Immigrants buy furniture, buy homes, buy all the stuff that a massive capitalist economy needs to fuel speculation. This is just a guess, of course.
