Outlying Areas, Inner Cities Lead Population Boom : Census: State study shows dramatic ethnic shift with influx of Asian and Latino immigrants.

California’s population explosion of the 1980s occurred mainly in the inner cities and in outlying “exurbs,” while many suburban cities lost population or barely held their own, according to a state analysis released Thursday.

Gov. Pete Wilson’s Council on Growth Management, in analyzing the 1990 census, also noted a dramatic shift in the state’s racial and ethnic makeup, as immigrants from Asia and Latin America poured into the state.

As California’s population grew by 6 million to a total of almost 30 million, more of the increase came from either domestic migration or foreign immigration than from births exceeding deaths. (Since the 1990 census, the state’s population is believed to have surpassed 30 million.)

Between 1985 and 1990, the report said, 45% of the population increase, or 290,000, was the result of more births than deaths, while 17% (108,000) was the result of migration from other states and 38% (252,000) from foreign immigration. An estimated 160,000 of the new immigrants were legal, while 92,000 were undocumented, the report added.

A majority of the state’s school-age children are from racial and ethnic minorities, as are a majority of newborn infants, the Growth Management Council said.

As these new immigrants arrived throughout the 1980s, they tended to settle in the state’s urban communities, reversing the post-World War II pattern of decline in the inner cities and growth in the suburbs, the report said.

For instance, in the Los Angeles area’s “urban core,” the population grew by almost 1 million in the last decade--from 5.8 million to 6.7 million. The urban core was defined in the report as the 11 congressional districts in the center of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

In addition to a shortage of affordable housing, problems created by the massive new immigration into California’s inner cities include crowded schools, greater social service needs, poorer job conditions and more communication problems among people who do not speak English, according to the report.

Eleven cities in Los Angeles County and four in Orange County actually lost population during the 1980s, during the state’s unprecedented growth spurt.

Santa Monica’s population dropped by 1,409 during the decade, Lakewood’s fell by 1,097 and Beverly Hills’ declined by 675. In Orange County, Fountain Valley lost 1,389 during the 1980s, Seal Beach fell 887, Villa Park dropped 838.