Atlanta, the largest urban center in the southeastern U.S., has undergone profound social, cultural and demographic change since the 1980s. Prior to that time, the region contained two main ethnic groups: European Americans and African Americans. However, from 1980 to 1995, the Hispanic population of Georgia grew 130%. By 1996 there were 462,973 Hispanics in Georgia. From 1990 to 2000, Georgia became the third largest state for migrating Hispanics and Latinos. Immigration The main increase in Latino immigration to Atlanta began in the 1990s, as a result of the construction boom that accompanied the 1996 Olympics. However, the increase in the Hispanic population began before Atlanta was named host of the games in 1990. The Hispanic population is the largest non-traditional minority group in the city. Hispanics grew from 30,000 in 1982, to over 110,000 in 1992—260% in ten years. Between 1992 and 1996, the Hispanic population of the Atlanta metro area grew to over 231,619—an increase of 110% in just six years. Of these, 9,571, or 4%, are children in school. This growth has changed the cultural make-up of the city: three Mexican-owned radio stations that broadcast in Spanish, and, in 1997, there were three Spanish language newspapers, increasing to eleven by 1999. Mexican workers play an important role in the service sector, as well as in construction and industry. Meat packers, especially chicken processing plants, must be located close to the farm to reduce losses of live animals in transportation. Packers, then, are tied to the production region, but they use up the local work force because of the arduous and dangerous working conditions, as well as low salaries. As in the rest of the country, the Hispanic population in Atlanta continues to grow but at a smaller rate, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Furthermore, Dekalb County, in suburban Atlanta, showed between 2010 and 2014 the biggest decline in Hispanic population in 11 counties that have Hispanic populations of 10,000 or more. Numbers revealed by the US Census in 2015 showed that in Dekalb County Hispanic population was 64,279 in 2014, down 4% from 2010. Statistics Metro Atlanta At 10.7% of the metro's population in 2010, versus only 6.5% in 2000, the metro's Hispanic population increased 103.6%, or 278,459 people, in ten years. Major Hispanic groups include 314,351 Mexicans, 43,337 Puerto Ricans, and 24,439 Salvadorans. All of those groups' populations increased by over 90% in the ten-year