UCLA launches `one of its kind' bilingual digital tool
The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute has launched a new bilingual online tool to help users explore the diversity of an exploding U.S. Latino population.
The Latino Data Hub offers nationwide data in English and Spanish for free. It uses recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, with goals of filling critical information gaps and highlighting the needs of Latino communities. Major themes underscored include racial diversity, country of origin, and socioeconomic status.
Since 2000, Latinos have been the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population and reached 62.5 million in 2021. By 2060, the Latino population is projected to increase to 111.2 million or 28% of the overall population in the country.
“Latinos are at the heart of America's story, and it's time we had a comprehensive resource that reflects our rich diversity and the unique challenges we face,”said Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas, director of research for the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute.
With a free profile, users can create interactive graphics and download data files on demographics, health care access, voting, education, employment and income.
Data can be broken down by sex, race, age, Latino descent group and citizenship through customizable searches. In the coming year, the tool will feature congressional district data that aims for further insight during an election year.
“The depths of the data, availability and the customizable ability that users can generate is one of its kind,” said Jie Zong, lead developer of the Latino Data Hub. “I've never seen anything like that.”
The platform, which launched Tuesday, took three years to complete and tackles the stereotype that Latinos are one monolithic group, Zong said.
Some key takeaways derived from the platform are that 65% of Latinos U.S. born, Latinos boast a median age of 29, compared to the median age of 38 for all Americans and Latinas earn 51 cents for every dollar earned by non-Hispanic white men in California.
“The more disaggregated data there is, the more you see yourself in it, and your experiences and the experiences of your families and friends and your community,” Dominguez-Villegas said.