Pew Releases Statistics on Latinas

The Pew Hispanic Center released "Hispanic Women in the United States, 2007," a statistical portrait of the demographic, social and economic characteristics of this country's 14.4 million Hispanic women.

Key findings from the report:
-- Hispanic women are younger than non-Hispanic women. Their median age is 41, compared with a median age of 47 for non-Hispanic women.

-- The fertility rate of Hispanic women is one-third higher than that of non-Hispanic women.

-- Just over half (52%) of Hispanic women are immigrants. Their fertility rate is about 30% higher than that of native-born Hispanic women.

-- Some 42% of Hispanic women who gave birth in 2005-2006 were unmarried, compared with 34% of non-Hispanic women. The share of out-of-wedlock births to Hispanic women immigrants was 35%; the share for native-born Hispanic women was 50%.

-- Hispanic and non-Hispanic women are equally likely (54%) to be married. Hispanic women immigrants (63%) are more likely to be married than native-born Hispanic women (44%)-in part because the latter group is younger.