Since 1790, the U.S. Census, which takes place every 10 years, has asked people about their ethnicity. The question has been phrased differently at different times. For example, in 1900, the census had a space in which to write “Color or race.” The current question is more complex:
The 2020 census also asked, regardless of answers to the race question, whether respondents were Hispanic or not. Now there is a proposal to remove this question from the 2030 census.
Why does the census ask about ethnicity?
The primary reason for counting the population of the United States is to make sure that there are enough Members of Congress for the population of each state. Each state gets two senators, but the number of representatives in the House depends on the population of the state. When slavery was allowed in the United States, free people counted as one person and enslaved people counted as 3/5 of a person. This has not been the case since 1868.
So why does the census still ask this question? “We ask a question about a person’s race to create statistics about race and to present other estimates by race groups,” the Census Bureau explains. “Local, state, tribal, and federal programs use these data, and they are critical factors in the basic research behind numerous policies, particularly for civil rights. Race data are used in planning and funding government programs that provide funds or services for specific groups. These data are also used to evaluate government programs and policies to ensure that they fairly and equitably serve the needs of all racial groups and to monitor compliance with antidiscrimination laws, regulations, and policies.”
This data is also used extensively by researchers of all kinds, from genealogists to historians, health researchers to economists.
Why remove the question?
The proposal suggests that removing this question will streamline the census and reduce privacy concerns.
“In addition to disclosure risk, the Census Bureau also is considering the (potentially) sensitive nature of questions about race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation,” the proposal explains in the Federal Register notice. “Substantial doubts about the meaning, significance, and impact of attempting to categorize persons by race and ethnicity, in particular, have featured prominently in our national discourse and have been reflected in shifts in the law.”
While the census does not actually ask questions about sexual orientation, such questions are being field tested for use the the 2027 American Community Survey. Questions about race and ethnicity have always been part of the census. This doesn’t mean that there have not been problems with these questions.
For example, the “color or race” question used to be answered by the enumerator based on their opinion of the appearance of the person being counted. Now, multiracial people can check multiple boxes on the race question or write in answers, rather than making an artificial choice. However, in the 2020 census, which showed an enormous increase in mixed-race answers, an algorithm decided to classify more people as multiracial than those who checked multiple boxes. The software caught mismatches in data — such as people who wrote in a national origin which the algorithm did not agree belonged under the race they had chose — and classified these as multiracial.
There are also scientific and political questions about the accuracy of divisions into races in general.
Consequences
The race question has been used in the past to discriminate against people. For example, the 1870 addition of “Chinese” as a racial category was used to exclude Asian immigrants with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. More recently, the information from this question has been used to identify inequities and to develop affirmative action policies.
The Economic Policy Institute says that the elimination of these questions could cause serious problems. “Census race and ethnicity data underpin many other critical federal datasets and serve as an irreplaceable benchmark for nearly every population-based survey and study in the U.S., ensuring that our research is reliable and leads to better outcomes for all of us,” Director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy Valerie Wilson wrote in a public comment. “Race and ethnicity data are necessary to enforce civil rights laws and ensure equal opportunity for all Americans, helping to ensure fairness and strengthen the U.S. economy. Race and ethnicity data also help local governments and nonprofits target services more efficiently.”
The consequences for researchers in many fields would be significant. Much of the data about the Puerto Rican population would be lost, for example. Information about stateside Puerto Ricans would no longer be as reliable as it is now. Healthcare inequities are already an issue for Puerto Ricans; losing the demographic data from the census would be likely to make things worse.
