The number of people in the United States from ethnic or racial minorities has risen to more than 100 million, or around one third of the population, according to a US Census Bureau report yesterday.

The minorities figure stood at 100.7 million, up from 98.3 million a year earlier. Within that, the Hispanic population was the fastest growing at a rate of 3.4 percent between July 2005 and July 2006.

Hispanics were also the largest minority group, accounting for 44.3 million people on July 1, 2006, or 14.8 percent of the overall US population which, according to census data released in October 2006, stood at more than 300 million.