Whites’ deaths outnumber births for first time

More white people died in the United States last year than were born, a surprising slump coming more than a decade before the Census Bureau says that the ranks of white Americans will likely drop with every passing year. 

Population estimates for 2012 released Thursday show what’s known as a natural decrease, a straightforward calculation of births minus deaths, of about 12,400 people among the nation’s 198 million non-Hispanic whites.