U.S. citizenship candidate Ricardo Barrera, 8, takes the oath of citizenship as his father Ricardo Barrera (L), mother Reina Barrera and his sister Ashley, 1, look on during a naturalization ceremony at the Los Angeles Central Library on September 19, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images/AFP

WASHINGTON DC, United States - The United States will become a nation of minorities in 2043 when whites will cease to make up the majority of the population, the US Census Bureau said Wednesday, December 12.

In its first set of projections based on the 2010 census, the federal agency said the non-Hispanic white population is expected to peak in 2024 at 199.6 million and then slowly decrease.

Other racial and ethnic groups will meanwhile keep growing.

Hispanics will double in numbers to 128.8 million in 2060, or nearly one in three US residents, as will Asians, to 34.4 million or 8.2 percent of the projected total population of 420.3 million.

"The United States will become a plurality nation, where the non-Hispanic white population remains the largest single group, but no group is in the majority," said Census Bureau acting director Thomas Mesenbourg.

Peering into its demographic crystal ball, the Census Bureau also projected that for the first time, in 2056, residents of the United States aged 65 or older will outnumber young people under the age of 18.

And while the working-age population, between 18 to 64, will keep growing, its share of the overall population will decline from 62.7 percent today to 56.9 percent. - Agence France-Presse