The 114th Congress, just getting underway in Washington, D.C. to kick off 2015, has the strongest Latino representation ever on Capitol Hill; yet, despite the increased diversity, Congress still has a disproportionately white representation in comparison to the rapidly changing U.S. population, a new study states.

According to a recent study from the Pew Research Center, Latinos have 32 representatives overall in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, their highest numbers ever, reflecting a steady upward trend of Hispanics in Congress since 2001; of that number, five newly elected Latinos join the congressional ranks. When combined with blacks, Asian/Pacific Islanders and Native Americans, non-whites make up 17 percent of the new Congress, which has 535 members–435 in the House and 100 in the Senate.

Yet despite those figures, the combined numbers for minority legislators in Congress are far below the overall representation minorities make up for the overall U.S. population; Latinos, blacks and other minority groups altogether make up 38 percent of the U.S. population, totaling to roughly 316 million people.

A further look shows that Latinos, who are on pace to become the fastest growing minority group in the U.S., made up 17 percent, or 54 million, of the nation's population, according the figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2013. Of that group, Mexicans ranked as the largest nation represented among Latinos at 64 percent as of 2012's Census numbers, with Puerto Ricans being the second-largest at 9.4 percent, Salvadorans at 3.8 percent as the third-largest subgroup, Cubans at fourth with 3.1 percent, Dominicans ranking fifth at 3.1 percent, Guatemalans sixth at 2.3 percent and the remaining 13.7 percent comprised those with other Latino/Hispanic roots.

Yet Latinos make up only 5.9 percent of the new Congress, with 29 Hispanics in the House and three in the Senate.

By 2060, Census figures project that the Latino population will reach roughly 160 million nationwide, making up roughly 31 percent of the nation's expected population by that time. Still, Hispanics have grown more than any other minority in Congress since 2001, when only 19 Latinos were in Congress. The largest changes have come about in the House, where 85 of the 435 members, or 20 percent, are non-white in the 114th Congress.

Yet, while diversity has grown in Congress, whites still have the lion's share of congressional seats in Washington, the group accounting for a staggering 83 percent of the 114th Congress; by comparison, the study notes, whites make up only 62 percent of the nation's populace.