Problems for Latinos and America

In terms of health, the most alarming issue continues to be obesity, which especially affects the 33% of Hispanic children who live below the poverty line. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2008, 18.5% of Hispanic children were obese compared with 12.6% of white children and 11.8% of African-American children, with no abatement in sight. Another problem is the 39% increase in drug use among Hispanic teen boys between 2008 and 2009, according to statistics from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. In education, Latinos continued to lag with 41% of Hispanic adults ages 20 and older in the United States not having at least a high-school diploma, compared with 23% of black adults and 14% of white adults, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. In addition, Hispanic high-school dropouts are much less likely to attain a General Educational Development credential — just one in 10 Hispanic high-school dropouts has a GED, compared with two in 10 black dropouts and three in 10 white dropouts. Finally, the census counts found that Latinos are a youthful population that accounted for 51% of the U.S. total population growth which means that the problems that they cause for America will likely only get worse in the future.