Demographics of Virginia

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The Demographics of Virginia are studied by various government and non-government organizations. Virginia is the 12th-most populous state in the U.S. with over 7.7 million residents and the 35th largest in area.^[1]

1 Population
2 Language
3 Ethnicity
4 Religion
5 See also
6 References

[edit] Population

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1790	691,737	—
1800	807,557	16.7%
1810	877,683	8.7%
1820	938,261	6.9%
1830	1,044,054	11.3%
1840	1,025,227	−1.8%
1850	1,119,348	9.2%
1860	1,219,630	9%
1870	1,225,163	0.5%
1880	1,512,565	23.5%
1890	1,655,980	9.5%
1900	1,854,184	12%
1910	2,061,612	11.2%
1920	2,309,187	12%
1930	2,421,851	4.9%
1940	2,677,773	10.6%
1950	3,318,680	23.9%
1960	3,966,949	19.5%
1970	4,648,494	17.2%
1980	5,346,818	15%
1990	6,187,358	15.7%
2000	7,078,515	14.4%

As of 2006, Virginia had an estimated population of 7,642,884, which is an increase of 78,557, or 1.0%, from the prior year and an increase of 563,854, or 8.0%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 276,039 people (that is 633,794 births minus 357,755 deaths) and an increase from net migration of 276,292 people into the commonwealth. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 151,748 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 124,544 people. The commonwealth has 940,899 residents who were born outside the United States (8.14% of the population), while 99,104 were born in a different state. Also in 2006, 6.58% of Virginia's population were reported as under five years old, 24.6% under eighteen, and 11.2% were senior citizens-65+.^[2] The center of population of Virginia is located in Goochland County.^[3]

[edit] Language

English was passed as the commonwealth's official language by statutes in 1981 and 1996, and by law in 2006, though the status is not mandated by the Constitution of Virginia.^[4] English is the only language spoken by 6,201,784 (86.9%) Virginians, though it is spoken very well by an additional 536,508 (7.5%) for a total of 94.3% of the commonwealth which speaks English. Spanish has the most speakers of non-English languages, with 412,416 (5.8%). 240,332 (3.4%) speak Asian and Pacific Islander languages, including Vietnamese and Filipino.^[5]

[edit] Ethnicity

Virginia Population Density Map

The five largest reported ancestry groups in Virginia are: African (19.6%), German (11.7%), unspecified American (11.4%), English (11.1%), and Irish (9.8%).^[6] Many of Virginia's African population are descended from enslaved Africans who worked its tobacco, cotton, and hemp plantations. Initially, these slaves were imported from west central Africa, primarily Angola. During the eighteenth century, however, about half of them were derived from various ethnicities located in the Niger Delta region of modern day Nigeria.^[7] They contributed strongly to the development of Southern foodways, music, vernacular architecture, and religion. With continued immigration to Virginia of other European groups and the 19th century sales of tens of thousands of enslaved African Americans from Virginia to the Deep South, the percent of enslaved African Americans fell from once being half of the total population. By 1860 slaves comprised 31% of the state's population of 1.6 million.^[8]

In colonial Virginia the majority of free people of color were descended from marriages or relationships of white women (servants or free) and black men (slave, servant or free), reflecting the fluid relationships among working people. Many free black families were well-established and headed by landowners by the Revolution.^[9] From 1782 to 1818, a wave of slaveholders inspired by the Revolutionary ideals of equality freed slaves, until the legislature made manumissions more difficult. Some African Americans freed were those whose fathers were white masters, while others were freed for service.^[10] By 1860 there were 58,042 free people of color (black or mulatto, as classified in the census) in Virginia.^[8] Over the decades, many had gathered in the cities of Richmond and Petersburg where there were more job opportunities. Others were landowners who had working farms, or found acceptance from neighbors in the frontier areas of Virginia.^[9]

The twentieth century Great Migration of blacks from the rural South to the urban North reduced Virginia's black population to about 20%.^[2] Today, African-Americans are concentrated in the eastern and southern Tidewater and Piedmont regions where plantation agriculture was the most dominant.^[11] The western mountains were settled primarily by people of heavily Scots-Irish ancestry.^[12] There are also sizable numbers of people of German descent in the northwestern mountains and Shenandoah Valley.^[13]

Because of immigration in the late 20th century and early 21st century, there are rapidly growing populations of Hispanics (particularly Central Americans) and Asians in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. As of 2005, 6.1% of Virginians are Hispanic and 5.2% are Asian.^[2] Northern Virginia has the largest Vietnamese population on the East Coast, with slightly more than 99,000 Vietnamese residents.^[14] The Hampton Roads area also has a large Filipino population.^[15]

[edit] Religion

The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart is located in the Richmond's Fan district.

Religious affiliation^[16]
Christian:		76%	Baptist:	30%
	Protestant:	49%	Methodist:	7%
	Roman Catholic:	14%	Lutheran:	2%
	Other Christian:	13%	Presbyterian:	3%
Judaism:		1%	Episcopal:	3%
Islam:		1%	Pentecostal:	2%
Other religions:		4%	Congregational:	1%
Non-religious:		12%	Other/general:	2%

Virginia is predominantly Protestant; Baptists account as the largest single group with 30% of the population being members.^[17] Roman Catholics, are the second-largest group, and also the third fastest growing. Islam, the second fastest growing group, accounts for 0.99% of the population. About 50.0% of those practicing non-Christian faiths come from India, and Buddhism and Hinduism combined form the fastest growing group, and largest of the "Other Religions" group, accounting for 1.00% of the population.^[18] Non-denominational megachurches in the state include McLean Bible Church and Immanuel Bible Church.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington includes most of Northern Virginia's Catholic churches, while the Diocese of Richmond covers the rest. Baptist denominational groups in Virginia include the Baptist General Association of Virginia, with about 1,400 member churches, which supports both the Southern Baptist Convention and the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia with over 500 affiliated churches, which supports the Southern Baptist Convention.^[19]^[20] The Virginia Synod is responsible for the churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, Southern Virginia, and Southwestern Virginia support the various Episcopal churches. In November 2006, fifteen conservative Episcopal churches in the Diocese of Virginia voted to split from the diocese and the larger Anglican Communion over the issue of sexuality and the ordination of openly gay clergy and bishops. Virginia law allows parishioners to determine their church's affiliation. The resulting property law case is a test for Episcopal churches nationwide, as the diocese claims the church properties of those congregations that want to secede.^[21]