BATON ROUGE, La. — The number of Ku Klux Klan chapters in the United States is plummeting as a new generation of khaki-clad racists rejects hoods and robes for a ‘‘hipper’’ brand of hate, according to a report Wednesday by an organization that tracks far-right extremists.

The Southern Poverty Law Center said its count of Klan groups fell from 130 in 2016 to 72 last year, despite a recent surge of activity in the broader white supremacist movement.

The Alabama-based law center reported a sharp increase in neo-Nazi groups, from 99 in 2016 to 121 last year. And it counted a total of 954 active ‘‘hate groups’’ in 2017, an increase of 4 percent over the previous year.

Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project, said Klan groups seem to be ‘‘collapsing’’ and struggling to recruit members because younger white supremacists are turned off by its traditions.

‘‘It’s just extremely old-school and, I think, honestly weird to them,’’ she said. ‘‘That’s not the image that they have of what white nationalism should be.’’

associated press