Interracial marriages in the U.S. have climbed to 4.8 million - a record one in 12 - as a steady flow of new Asian and Hispanic immigrants expands the pool of prospective spouses.
Blacks are now substantially more likely than before to marry whites.
A Pew Research Center study, released today, details a diversifying America where interracial unions and the mixed-race children they produce are challenging typical notions of race.
'The rise in interracial marriage indicates that race relations have improved over the past quarter century,' said Daniel Lichter, a sociology professor at Cornell University. 'Mixed-race children have blurred America's color line.
Love: The rate of marriages between black people and white people rose rapidly in the last three decades
'They often interact with others on either side of the racial divide and frequently serve as brokers between friends and family members of different racial backgrounds,' he said. 'But America still has a long way to go.'
The figures come from previous censuses as well as the 2008-2010 American Community Survey, which surveys three million households annually.
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