• The U.S. Hispanic population now stands at over 54.1 million, making them the nation’s second-largest racial or ethnic group. Today Hispanics make up 17% of the U.S. population, up from 5% in 1970. (Pew Hispanic Center, 2014.)

 

• More than 35 million Hispanics speak Spanish at home. About 38% say Spanish is their dominant language, compared with 25% who are English-dominant and 36% who are bilingual, according to the Pew Research Center’s 2013 National Survey of Latinos. (Pew Hispanic Center, 2014.)

• Oregon’s Hispanic population is about 473,000, or approximately 12.3% of the state’s total population. (Census Bureau’s 2012 ACS.)

 

• More than 50% of the Hispanic Population in Oregon lives in the Portland Metro area, including Vancouver, Washington.  (Census Bureau’s 2013 estimate.)

 

• In Oregon, Hispanics had a purchasing power of $8.4 billion in 2012. (The Selig Center, 2012.)

 

• The Hispanic population in Oregon is the 14th largest in the nation. (Census Bureau’s 2012 ACS.)

 

• In 2011, there were over 200,000 Hispanics in the workforce in Oregon, representing 10.5% of the state’s total workforce. (Oregon Employment Department, 2011.)

 

• Oregon was among the 10 states with the highest Hispanic business growth rate in the nation with a rate nearly double the national rate of growth of 43.6% for Latino-owned businesses. (Economic Census, Survey of Business Owners, 2007.)

Most Hispanics receive information about health care either from the media, or from their families, friends, churches and community groups.

 

• 83 % report obtaining information about health and health care from television, radio, newspapers, magazines or the Internet in the past year.

 

• 51% report obtaining information about health and health care from print media.

 

• 70 % report obtaining information from family and friends, or churches and community groups in the past year.

 

Not only are Hispanics obtaining a substantial amount of health information from the media, but they are making behavioral changes based on what they learn.

 

• 64 % report that the health information that they obtained from the media led them to change their diet or exercise regimes.

 

• 57 % report that the health information they obtained from the media led them to visit a health care professional.

 

• 41 % say that the information they obtained from the media affected their decision about how to treat an illness or medical condition.