With far more whites than minorities among the least affluent families, the proportion of minority students would shrink if affirmative action disappeared.

Between 2000 and 2006, the proportion of monolingual Dutch families shrank from 9.5% to 7.0%, whereas bilingual families shrank from 9.9% to 8.6%.

If turnout in other states is any indication, their proportion will probably shrink this year without Mr. Jackson on the ballot.

But even as the proportion of Puerto Ricans shrank, many of their replacements came from the Dominican Republic.

Last week that proportion shrank to one-fifth, and 92 percent said peace was impossible if East Jerusalem did not become the Palestinian capital.

With more competition from other ways of living, the proportion of married couples has been shrinking for decades.

But the proportion - though not the total - of people out of work five weeks or less shrank to 37.1 percent, contracting for the fourth straight month.

A major complaint of the Serbs is that their proportion of the Kosovo population is steadily shrinking.

Furthermore, the proportion of live cattle to total exports has shrunk in recent years from 16 % to about 10 %.

The proportion of companies paying higher prices, though still a majority, shrank.