Growth, Growth and even more Growth for Latinos.

Still wondering if the Hispanic tsunami is going to affect your business?

Don’t.

The Bebé Boom is kicking into overdrive. Businesses may have been able to ignore the writing on the wall before, but now the whole wall is getting repainted.

And I get to revel in a little bit of “I told you so.”

Hispanics have been the fastest growing demographic in the country for a long time. You knew that.

But this week the respected Pew Research Center released dramatic new projections, looking ahead to 2050.

The numbers are staggering. Ignore them at the peril of your business.

According to the center, the Latino population will triple over the next four decades, from 42 million to 128 million. That’s 84 million more people – more than the current populations of California, Texas, and New York combined.

Want another way to think of it? You could add the current populations of a full 30 states together, and still not hit 84 million. And I don’t mean just Alaska or Wyoming and the like. That list would include Maryland, Minnesota and Wisconsin; Colorado, Alabama and South Carolina; much of the south and west, and almost all of New England.

That’s a lot of Latinos.

And that’s not counting the ones already here. Put it all together and there will be enough Hispanics in the country to fill all but the top 12 most populous states today.

Imagine: 38 states, all Hispanic.

What’s that do for Hispanic buying power? It’s already bumping $800 billion annually, and is expected to hit $1 trillion by 2010. If the population triples, buying power is likely to increase by at least that much. But, since we’re also seeing Hispanic household income climbing as well, our overall purchasing power is likely to be much greater.

Pick a number: $4 trillion? $5 trillion? $8 trillion? How much are you willing to let go into the pockets of your competitors, instead of your own?

By 2050, the center says, nearly one out of every three people in the U.S. will be Hispanic. That means that one out of every three consumers will be Latino.

Hispanics, single-handedly, will account for 60 percent of the nation’s population growth over the next four decades, the center says. Even using the most conservative figures, assuming massively curtailed immigration, the number of Latinos in the country will double.

Between now and 2050, the center predicts that the number of Hispanic children will almost double as well, growing to 35 percent of the total, and closing in on the non-Hispanic white number (40 percent).

That isn’t bad news. It’s an opportunity! And of course keep in mind that Spanish language media will continue to grow and have a direct impact on the continued use and growth of the use of the Spanish language ,which to the dismay of Lou Dobbs is is here to stay. As chapter six in my book states, we want to be courted in the language we make love in, and Español is it now, and will be in 2050.

The Latino portion of the potential market in almost every category will grow faster than any other. The only exceptions will be certain medical products and services because aging Baby Boomers will make up the bulk of the elderly in the country for decades to come. So if all you sell are adult diapers, then you’ll do just fine continuing with business as usual.

Jose Cancela is Principal of Hispanic USA Inc, a full service Hispanic Market Communications firm. He has also the author of “The Power of Business en Español, Seven Fundamental Keys to Unlocking the Potential of the Spanish Language Hispanic Market” Rayo / HarperCollins

jo**@*********sa.net

http://www.hispanicusa.net>