Demographics

African Americans enjoy group tours and are more likely than most travelers to rent a car. Hispanic Americans stay longer than the average traveler and are more likely to use a hotel. Asian Americans are big on flying and spend more on vacation than any other ethnic group. Those are some of the findings of the Minority Traveler Report, the first comprehensive survey of minority groups and their travel patterns, released this year by the Washington, D.C.-based Travel Industry Assn.

Proposition 209, the initiative on affirmative action, had a huge gender gap: Most men voted for it and a majority of women opposed it. White voters were the only racial or ethnic group supporting 209. On Proposition 215, the marijuana medical use initiative, all age groups except the elderly were for it. * PROP.

Given its sprawl and complexity, Southern California presents tough challenges to anyone seeking to understand the region. But a group of USC professors is giving it a massive try, in hopes of improving life here and providing a model to other cities worldwide.

You wouldn't know it from recent rhetoric, but even in the vitriolic atmosphere of Campaign '96, I think the political clout of African Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos is growing. The growth is slow, sometimes imperceptible--but significant when you keep in mind that minorities are almost a majority in California, and already a majority in Los Angeles County.

New U.S. citizens of Latin American ancestry overwhelmingly favor the Democratic Party, and a whopping majority, more than eight in 10, support the reelection of President Clinton, according to a new poll of Latino voters in California. The results are among the first indications of how the record number of people taking the citizenship oath this year--more than 300,000 in Southern California alone--will probably vote next month.

An emerging Latino middle class is gradually achieving a certain prosperity and in many cases is moving toward parity with the overall Southern California population, a study released Wednesday has found. The study, sponsored by Pepperdine University's Institute for Public Policy, is billed as the first to examine the region's dynamic Latino middle class, a group long ignored in mainstream research.

An emerging Latino middle class is gradually achieving a certain prosperity and in many cases is moving toward parity with the overall Southern California population, a study released Wednesday has found. The study, sponsored by Pepperdine University's Institute for Public Policy, is billed as the first to examine the region's dynamic Latino middle class, a group long ignored in mainstream research.

For the first time, overweight people outnumber normal-size people in the United States, according to the latest government statistics, released Tuesday. The reasons are not entirely clear. Katherine Flegal of the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Md., who outlined the data, said many small reductions in physical activity might be to blame.

As potential jurors trudged through the Santa Monica courthouse last week for the start of jury selection in O.J. Simpson's civil trial, defense attorney Robert C. Baker served notice that he was monitoring the candidates for more than bias. Baker emphasized that he will scrutinize the "demographics" of the 400 citizens expected to respond to the court's summons. If he is not satisfied, he told the judge, he "may well" challenge the makeup of the jury pool. He did not elaborate.

More than half the world's projected 6.6 billion people in the year 2006 will be living in urban areas, underlining the prospect of crowded, violent and unhealthy cities, the United Nations Population Fund said in a report released in London. The biggest increase in urban population will be in developing countries, where the pressure on resources will be greatest, it added. "This urban future is inevitable and it should not be feared," the report said.