Newly released Census Bureau estimates show that Hawaii retained its title as the most racially diverse state, with a 75 percent "majority-minority."

Only three other states and the District of Columbia had more than 50 percent of their population made up of people other than single-race, non-Hispanic whites: the District of Columbia (68 percent), New Mexico (58 percent), California (57 percent) and Texas (52 percent).

Of Hawaii's melting pot, Asians (alone or in combination with other races) account for 55 percent of the total population, the highest percentage in the country. California ranks second at 13.7 percent.

Whites (alone or in combination with other races) are 42.5 percent of the population; Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (alone or in combination with other races) 21 percent; blacks (alone or in combination with other races) 3.8 percent; and Native American or Native Alaskan (alone or in combination with other races) 1.9 percent, according to the census estimates.

(The sum of the percentages exceeds 100 percent because a person may be counted in more than one racial group.)

The new numbers continue a previously reported increase in the white-alone share of Hawaii's population, which increased from almost 26 percent from the 2000 census to a little more than 29 percent on July 1, 2007.

In terms of numbers, the white-alone population increased an average of more than 8,300 individuals a year from 2000 to 2007.

At the same time, the data show a decline in the percentage of Asian-alone residents during that period, from 42 percent to 40 percent.

One state official said census claims of an influx of whites and an exodus of Asians are suspect because the calculations are based on Mainland population models.

"We do not have hard numbers to prove that," said Eugene Tian, research and statistics officer for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

In fact, Asians in Hawaii have higher birth rates than their Mainland counterparts, he said, and Asian migration into the state continues to increase.

Those two things would indicate growth in the Hawaii's Asian population, Tian said.