WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) - US schools have become more diverse racially and ethnically, new data released Tuesday by the US Census Bureau showed.

(File Photo: VCG)

According to the data, a total of 76.4 million students enrolled in schools nationwide in 2017.

"In 2017, only about half (49.9 percent) of elementary school students and 54.7 percent of college students were non-Hispanic white," said Kurt Bauman, chief of the bureau's Education and Social Stratification branch.

"Non-Hispanic white students now make up 51.9 percent of all people enrolled in school, compared to 59.7 percent in 2007," he added.

For elementary school students, which include kindergarteners through eighth graders, the rate of non-Hispanic white is 56.7 percent, while the same demographic group makes up 66.1 percent of the total college enrollments.

With respect to undergraduate college students, 52.9 percent are non-Hispanic white, 20.9 percent Hispanic, 15.1 percent black, and 7.6 percent Asian.

Meanwhile, graduate students in the country are 61.2 percent non-Hispanic white, 13.6 percent Hispanic, 12.3 percent black, and 11.2 percent Asian, according to the data.

The overall number of college admissions climbed by around 2 million from 2007 to 2011, and reduced to 18.4 million in 2017.

From a gender perspective, women continue to be a majority on college campuses at 54.9 percent of undergraduate students and 59.8 percent of graduate students.