CITY'S GROWTH WAS UNUSUALLY LOW POPULATION ROSE 6% IN DECADE.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

The city of Los Angeles grew an unexpectedly low 6 percent over the past decade, with the Hispanic population surging even as whites and blacks moved to the suburbs, according to Census 2000 data released Thursday.

The Asian population also increased, but at a slower rate than it did countywide.

Overall the city population now stands at 3,694,820 residents, up 209,422 from the 1990 census. That's far less than the four million population city officials expected, fueling concerns of a substantial undercount of minorities.

With a gain of 327,662 people, Hispanics now comprise 46.5 percent of the city's population, up from 40 percent in the previous census. But African-Americans are down by 52,303, and now represent 10.8 percent of the city's population; whites are down 200,416, now representing 29.7 percent of the city.

Asians are on pace to soon pass African-Americans as the city's third-largest ethnic group, with an increase of 44,182 residents, representing 9.8 percent of the city.

The shift reflects a continuing flight to the suburbs that is starting to spread to other ethnic groups as they have entered the middle class, according to some academic experts.

Joel Kotkin, a senior fellow at the Davenport Institute for Public Policy at Pepperdine University, said people are leaving the city because of concerns about crime and poorly-performing schools.

``It's for the same reason a lot of other people leave - for better schools, for better housing,'' Kotkin said. ``The political dysfunction of Los Angeles, in terms of its schools and government, are a big negative to people who tend to have a choice.''

As a result, he said, Los Angeles, like many big cities, is increasingly becoming a community of recent arrivals to this country.

Still, any increase in population, no matter how it breaks down, is usually a sign of a healthy economy, said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

``If you have a growing population, it's a proxy for the overall health of your economy,'' Kyser said.

``If you have a growing population, it's good news for business, but bad news for government because they have to rush to provide (increased) services.''

Deputy Mayor Ben Austin said the demographic shifts should not be seen in a negative light. Los Angeles, he said, reflects the trends the nation as a whole will reach in a few decades.

``Los Angeles is really a microcosm of what communities throughout the rest of our country are going to look like 20, 30, or 40 years down the line,'' Austin said. ``We're an experiment that's working quite well.''

Paul Ong, director of UCLA's Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, said the bulk of new state residents is from other countries, not other states.

``We have seen what I would call a net global migration, and that has led to the larger numbers of Asians and Latinos in the state and in Los Angeles,'' he said.

The census figures also show that in areas such as the San Fernando Valley, the diversity of individual neighborhoods has largely increased. And though Latinos are the largest group, the numbers of other minority have grown as well.

``The chances of your next-door neighbors being of another race have significantly increased,'' Ong said.

Contributors

Information and maps were provided by the U.S. Census and Eugene Turner, professor of geography at California State University, Northridge.

CAPTION(S):

photo, chart

Photo:

(color) A bus stop on Roscoe Boulevard in Van Nuys is a bustle of people from all ethnic and racial backgrounds, much like the rest of Los Angeles.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

Chart: L.A. CITY