Inter-racial marriages in US double to 15% of total

NEARLY 15 per cent of all new marriages in the United States, twice the 1980 level, are between partners of different races or ethnicity, a new report says.

The study by the Pew Research Institute is based on its own findings and US census data for 2008. It shows a doubling of the rate of interracial marriages for whites and a tripling for blacks.

"A record 14.6 per cent of all new marriages in the United States in 2008 were between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from one another," according to the report.

"This includes marriages between a Hispanic and non-Hispanic as well as marriages between spouses of different races – white, black, Asian, American Indian or those who identify as being of multiple races."

As late as 1967, 15 states had laws on their books banning marriage between blacks and whites. In that year, the US Supreme Court declared those laws unconstitutional.

After that an influx of Hispanic and Asian immigrants fuelled the rise in mixed marriages, according to the study.

The institute said "marrying out" was acceptable for 63 per cent of US adults. It was more common for college-educated adults than people who had only completed secondary school.