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For the majority of Americans, life is good. Few countries can match the level of health care, longevity, income, or educational attainment enjoyed by American citizens. The same can be said for the nation’s transportation and communications infrastructure, services, and many other developments that Americans often take for granted. In 2006, the United States ranked eighth among the world’s countries in the Human Development Index （HDI）¹, a scale of human well-being based on a number of quality-of-life factors. From the dawn of European settlement, millions of people have successfully pursued the “American dream”. Rather than being a monolithic goal, this dream assumed many forms as viewed by various individuals and groups. America was and is a land of opportunity, and the American dream remains very much alive. In answer to those who may doubt the country’s commitment to diversity—diversity ofethnicity and culture, of language and religion, and of land and life in the country’s various subregions, the United States accepts more immigrants each year than the rest of the world’s countries combined.

Much is heard today about America’s “multicultural diversity”. Actually, the country has always been culturally diverse. Native Americans represented many cultures and tribal societies; European immigrants came from numerous homelands and introduced many ways of living, although many arrived as slaves; Africans came from many locations, each with a unique culture; and, in time, people from various parts of Asia added to the rich mix. In fact, if you think about it, almost everything that Americans possess is of foreign origin!

In terms of biological inheritance, about 82 percent of the population is Caucasian （white）, 12 percent is Negroid （black）, 4 percent is Mongoloid （East Asian）, and about 2 percent is indigenous （Amerindian, Alaskan, or Hawaiian） or of some other ancestry. Many Americans, of course, are of mixed ancestry or ethnicity. Throughout the country’s history, most people—regardless of biological or cultural heritage—have willingly and enthusiastically become integrated into the American cultural “melting pot”.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the U.S. population is descended from immigrants who trace their heritage to the following locations:

Hispanics are the most rapidly growing segment of the population, having surpassed African Americans in number during the late 1990s. If the trend of recent decades continues, by 2050, people of north European ancestry will no longer be the majority population.“Anglos” already are a minority in California, New Mexico, Texas, and Hawaii. Five other states—Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, and New York—are close behind: more than 40 percent of their populations are something other than north European in ancestral origin.

Today, about 82 percent of Americans speak English as their primary tongue. Nearly 11 percent of the population, however, speaks Spanish as their first language, and that percentage is growing rapidly. About 4 percent of all Americans speak some other European tongue, and a small number, about 3 percent, speak an Asian, Pacific Island, Native American, or another language. The growing number of non-English-speaking people in the country poses a critical challenge to political leaders. Among countries that are linguistically divided, only tinySwitzerland has a tradition of stability. Today, in numerous countries throughout the world, ethnic （including linguistic） diversity is a source of conflict. It was the primary factor that underlay the disintegration of both the Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia. Diversity can contribute to social marginalization, economic deprivation, political powerlessness, cultural stratification, and a host of other problems. The United States must find a way to allow people to retain many elements of their culture while integrating those people into the nation’s socioeconomic mainstream. Communicating through a common tongue is the easiest way for this objective to be achieved.

Perhaps more than any other people, Americans have a long history of religious tolerance. Many early immigrants came to the New World to escape religious persecution. This openmindedness toward different faiths is evident in the tremendous diversity of faiths—nearly 3 000 organized religions!—practiced in the country today. About half of all Americans （52 percent） are Protestants; the leading denominations （in order of membership） are Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran², and Presbyterian. About one-fourth （24 percent） of the population is Roman Catholic. Because Hispanics are predominantly Roman Catholic, this number is growing. Other faiths include Latter Day Saints³（Mormons）, 2 percent; Jewish, 1 percent; Muslim, 1 percent; and other, 10 percent. About 10 percent of the population claims no religious faith. This figure is significant in that, in many European countries, up to half of the population is secular （nonreligious）.

Most of the United States is “mixed” in terms of religious following. There are, however, some sections of the country that are dominated by a particular faith. The Southeast, for example, is overwhelmingly Baptist, whereas the upper Mid-west is primarily Lutheran. Much of New England, southern Louisiana, and the Southwest are dominated by Roman Catholicism. Utah and southern Idaho are overwhelmingly Latter Day Saint （Mormon）. The imprint of religion on the landscape is widespread. Churches, cemeteries, camps, and parochial schools and colleges are the most visible elements, but there are many others. Roadside crosses and shrines, and signs and other symbols that profess a faith, are commonplace in many parts of the country. Less obvious but of perhaps even greater significance is the impact of religion on laws. Restrictions are imposed on liquor and tobacco sales and Sunday “blue laws” （enforced closing）, for example. Voting patterns on a host of political issues, such as abortion and stem-cell research, reflect religious beliefs.

There has never been a typical or single traditional family form in the United States. In the early 21st century, the ideal family is a vehicle for self-fulfillment and emotional satisfaction. The family in early America had different functions as producers of food, clothing, and shelter. There has always been a gap between the ideal family and the more complicated reality of family relationships. While Americans value their families and resent outside interference, they have also been willing to intervene in the family lives of those who seem outside the American ideal.

Native Americans had a variety of family organizations, including the nuclear family （two adults and their children）, extended households with near relatives, clans, and other forms of kinship. Family organizations might be matrilineal, where ancestry is traced through the mother’s line, or patrilineal, where ancestry is traced through the father’s line. In general, Native Americans had a great deal of freedom in sexuality, in choosing marriage partners, and in remaining married. After conversion to Christianity, some of the variety in family forms decreased. In the early 20th century, the United States government broke up many Native American families and sent the children to boarding schools to become Americanized, a policy that was disastrous for those involved and was largely abandoned by the middle of the 20th century.

In 1998 there were 2 256 000 marriages in the United States, a marriage rate of 8.4 per 1 000 people. This rate was down from 10.6 per 1 000 in 1980. The year 1998 also saw 1 135 000 divorces in the United States, a rate of 4.2 per thousand people. One estimate is that 50.3 percent of marriages will end in divorce. Divorce rates have been rising since 1920, when records were first kept and when the divorce rate was about a third of the 1995 rate. Although the divorce rate has been declining since it peaked in the early 1980s, America still has one of the highest divorce rates in the world. The majority of divorced people eventually remarry.

Increased educational requirements and job training, economic insecurity, difficulties finding the “perfect mate”, and the attractions of a carefree life are among the reasons for delaying marriage. In 2000, the average age at which Americans married was 26.8 for men and 25.1 for women, matching the marriage age for men and surpassing the marriage age for women in the 19th century. Virtually all people eventually marry—by age 65, about 95 percent of men and women are married. Americans delay marriage, seek divorces, and remarry because they expect marriage to be loving, supportive, and equitable. If a marriage isdisappointing, they often seek the perfect partner in another relationship.

Families are having fewer children than ever, but children are often staying home longer. The high cost of college education keeps many older children at home. Census takers at the end of the 20th century have noticed what they call a boomerang effect, where adult children leave home but then later return. High rents and low entry-level wages, divorce, single parenthood, and their parents’ higher standard of living are among the factors encouraging adults to return home. Parents often welcome the companionship and assistance of their grown children.

The majority of Americans accept new attitudes on sexual expression, birth control, abortion, divorce, and child custody, although many personally view homosexuality as immoral, have mixed feelings about abortion, and want to make divorce more difficult to obtain. Both liberals and conservatives agree there are hopeful and troubling aspects of the American family at the beginning of the 21st century. The family is not dead, but it exhibits the plurality of interests, hopes, and troubles that the American people face at the end of the century.