<Tr> <Td> Asian </Td> <Td> 6.5% </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> American </Td> <Td> 9.7% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> American Indian and Alaska Native </Td> <Td> 0.5% </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Subsaharan African </Td> <Td> 1.7% </Td> </Tr> <P> As of 2011, 49.1% of Virginia's population younger than age 1 were minorities (meaning that they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white). </P> <P> As of 2010, 85.9% (6,299,127) of Virginia residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language, while 6.4% (470,058) spoke Spanish, 0.8% (56,518) Korean, 0.6% (45,881) Vietnamese, 0.6% (42,418) Chinese (which includes Mandarin), and Tagalog was spoken as a main language by 0.6% (40,724) of the population over the age of five . In total, 14.1% (1,036,442) of Virginia's population age 5 and older spoke a mother language other than English . English was passed as the Commonwealth's official language by statutes in 1981 and again in 1996, though the status is not mandated by the Constitution of Virginia . </P>

What were the special characteristics of the population of virginia