No Time for Tweaking
The Census Bureau is already planning for the 2030 Census, but key challenges from 2020 remain unresolved—particularly the undercount of vulnerable groups like young children, as well as Black and Hispanic populations. While some suggest only minor tweaks are needed, others believe bold changes are essential to ensure a more accurate count. In this blog, […]
What Past Research Tells Us About How to Prepare for the 2030 U.S. Census Count of Young Children
Probably the most important point in this paper is made in Figure 1 which shows a steady increase in the undercount of young children since 1980. What we have been doing for the past forty years is not working. The Census Bureau needs to try new strategies specifically focused on counting young children. Unless we […]
What the New Census Bureau Demographic Analysis (DA) Experimental Young Child Coverage Estimates for States and Counties Tell Us About Methodology
In the 2020 Census, the undercount of young children (ages 0 to 4) was 5.4 percent which is much higher than any other age group. Moreover, the net undercount of young children has tripled since the 1980 Census while the coverage of adults improved, and the coverage of older children was stable. This makes counting […]
The Changing Young Child Population of the United States: First Data From the 2020 Census
This study seeks to provide foundational research on the demographics of youngchildren in the U.S. The population total of young children has trended downwards over the past few decades, but within it, there has been a vast increase in racial and ethnic diversity. This study shows a demographic future that will be quite different from […]
What New Census Bureau Population Projections Tell Us About the Future of Young Children in The U.S.
The new regulations regarding the collection of data on race and ethnicity that were issued today by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget have implications for everyone. But from a statistical perspective they will have bigger consequences for young children than for older age groups, because young children are the most racially and ethnically […]
The Net Coverage of Children Ages 5 to 9 in the U.S. Census
This study examines subnational coverage for the population ages 5 to 9 and compares census coverage of children ages 0 to 4 to those ages 5 to 9. Young children (ages 0 to 4) have higher net undercount rates than children ages 5 to 9, and the pattern is pervasive and long standing. The pattern […]
Counties Where the Coverage for Young Children Deteriorated Between 2010 and 2020
The undercount of young children is one of the most vexing problems faced by the U.S. Census Bureau. The undercount rate for young children (ages 0 to 4) was not only high (5.4 percent) in the 2020 Census, but it has been increasing in every Census since 1980 when it was 1.4 percent. The official […]
What the 2020 Census Tells Us About Middle Eastern North African (MENA) Children
One of the most important features of the recent U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposal to change the way people are classified by race and ethnicity in the federal statistical system (including the census) is the addition of a category for the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) population. The proposed changes by […]
County-level Coverage Rates of Young Children in the 2020 Census The National-Level Data Do Not Tell the Full Story
The Census Bureau release of the 2020 Census Demographic and HousingCharacteristics file with detailed age data from the 2020 Census in May of 2023 allowsresearchers to examine coverage rates of young children at the state and county level. Areport on state level coverage for young children (ages 0 to 4) was posted on the CountAll […]
State Undercount Rates for Young Children in the 2020 Census
Over the past decade there has been growing interest among researchers and Census stakeholders in the high and growing net undercount of young children (ages 0 to 4) in the U.S. Census which has resulted in a stream of research on this topic (O’Hare 2015: U.S. Census Bureau 2022; Jensen 2022; Griffin and O’Hare 2022). […]
