The changing breeds
He had made the first genetically modified babies in the history of humankind. There was a general buzz of excitement in the air. But he had been working on a top-secret project for the last two years – and he was about to take to the podium at the International Summit on Human Genome Editing to announce the results. labor force.At the time, he was an obscure researcher working at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China. Note: This post contains updated data on the use of smartphones and other technologies, as well as the generational makeup of the U.S. Hodges ruling, which established that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. Supreme Court issued its landmark Obergefell v. As of this year, 61% of Americans favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally. Same-sex marriage is another policy area where support surpassed opposition during the 2010s. Same-sex marriage has the backing of a majority of U.S. The drug remains illegal under federal law. The change in public sentiment has been accompanied by a changing legal landscape: As of this year, 11 states and the District of Columbia have legalized small amounts of marijuana for adult recreational use, while many others have legalized it for medical use. A little less than a decade ago, in 2010, fewer than half (41%) did so. Since 2009, the share of Americans who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” has grown from 17% to 26%, while the share who describe themselves as Christians has declined from 77% to 65%.Īmericans increasingly support the legalization of marijuana. This is just one measure by which the religious landscape of the country has changed. It’s become more common for Americans to attend church a few times a year or less (54%) than monthly or more (45%). As of fall 2018, children from racial and ethnic minority groups were projected to make up 52.9% of public K-12 students. Nonwhite students also account for the majority of the nation’s K-12 public school students. are racial or ethnic minorities, a threshold first crossed in 2013. More than half of newborn babies in the U.S. Nonwhites now account for the majority of the nation’s newborns, as well as the majority of K-12 students in public schools. Another factor behind the increase in household size: More Americans are “doubled up” in shared living quarters. population, lived with multiple generations under one roof, even with improvements in the U.S. In 2016, a record 64 million people, or 20% of the U.S. This is in part because of the rising number of Americans living in multigenerational households. The 2010s will likely be the first decade in at least 160 years to see an increase in the average number of people living in U.S.
employment rate in 2019 is several percentage points lower than it was at the start of the Great Recession in 2007, primarily because of the aging U.S. Despite the downward trend in unemployment, the recovery in other labor market indicators has been anemic to absent in the post-Great Recession era. unemployment rate declined from a near record high level (9.5%) in the second quarter of 2010 to a near-record low (3.5%) in the second quarter of 2019 (figures are non-seasonally adjusted). That was more than the 53 million Gen Xers (born 1965 to 1980) and well ahead of the 38 million Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964).įollowing the Great Recession, the U.S. There were 57 million Millennials (born 1981 to 1996) working or looking for work in 2018. Millennials have surpassed Generation Xers as the largest generation in the U.S. adults (52%) now say they get news there. Among social media sites, Facebook dominates in terms of news consumption: Around half of all U.S. One-in-five adults said they often get news from social media, slightly higher than the share who often did so from print newspapers (16%).
In 2018, for the first time, social media sites surpassed print newspapers as a news source for Americans. Social media is now a key pathway to news for Americans. For example, 93% of Millennials (ages 23 to 38 in 2019) own smartphones, and nearly 100% say they use the internet. Growth in adoption of some technologies has slowed in recent years, in some instances because there just aren’t many non-users left, especially among younger generations. adults say they go online, 81% say they own a smartphone and 72% say they use social media. As the 2010s draw to a close, here are key ways the country looks different from 10 years ago:įrom smartphones to social media, tech use has become the norm. Pew Research Center has tracked these developments through surveys, demographic analyses and other research.
The past decade in the United States has seen technological advancements, demographic shifts and major changes in public opinion.