ATLANTA — Five Georgia counties — Chatham, Douglas, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale — have gone from being majority white to places where no single racial or ethnic group holds a majority, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the five counties in Georgia were among 78 counties nationally that became majority-minority from 2000 to 2013. The Pew Center report was based on data collected by the U.S. Census.
Four of Georgia's counties reported some of the largest changes in the share of white residents nationally.
Rockdale County saw the biggest drop in Georgia at 34.9 percentage points. Henry County followed at 30.3 percentage points, while Douglas experienced a 29.8 percentage-point drop. Gwinnett County fell 25.4 percentage points.
Chatham County saw a 4.2 percentage-point drop in its white population during the same period.
"This trend stems from a flat or declining number of whites in each of these four Georgia counties ... combined with a large and growing black population and a smaller Hispanic population that is also increasing in number," the report said.
"In recent years, many blacks have moved to the Atlanta area from Northern states as part of a return migration to the South. Nonetheless, in all but one of the four counties, the white population remains the largest single racial or ethnic group there."