The Census Misses More Black and Hispanic Young Children Than Other Young Children

Black and Hispanic young children have higher net undercounts than others.

The graph below shows the net undercount rate for all children age 0 to 4 in the 2010 was 4.6 percent.  But for Black Alone or in Combination it was 6.3 percent, and for Hispanics it was 7.5 percent.  These rates are more than twice as high as the estimate for Non-Hispanic White children.

This data indicate that areas with large numbers of black or Hispanic young children should be a high priority for the 2020 Census.  It also means households with young black or Hispanic children should be a high priority for the communications and partnership program of the 2020 Census.

2010 Census

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Dr. William O’Hare has more than 40 years of experience as an applied demographer and expert data analyst. For fifteen years prior to his retirement, he ran the KIDS COUNT project at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. He is the author of the book, The Undercount of Young Children in the U.S. Decennial Census, published in 2015. He holds a PhD from Michigan State University.

 

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