UNITED STATES 1 Apr 2010 United States conducts decennial census

As it has done every 10 years since 1790, the United States will count and gather demographic information on its residents -- 301 million-plus in 2008 -- in 2010. Funding issues could throw the preparations and operation into disarray. The US Congress approved extra funding in Jun 2008, but the US Census Bureau says it is not enough. It has dropped some procedures from its plans, leading to worries about the accuracy of the census results. The legitimacy of important decisions are rooted in the census, including the drawing of electoral districts and the allocation of some US 300 billion in federal funds each year. 

The Census Bureau projected in August that everyone in the United States will be a minority by 2042.  White non-Hispanics will drop below 50 percent of the population as early as 2042. That's about 10 years earlier than demographers previously had predicted, said Grayson Vincent, a demographer with the Census Bureau.

According to the Washington Post in Jul 2008, independent demographers and congressional overseers are worried that the Census Bureau will not be prepared to accurately record the nation's racial and ethnic minorities, illegal immigrants and the poor -- groups that historically have been undercounted.

The bureau has dropped a dry run of the follow-up interview process from the "dress rehearsal" it traditionally holds two years before the actual count, according to the newspaper, depriving the bureau of the insight into potential glitches it usually gets at this stage of the preparations.

The bureau also dropped a plan to use wireless hand-held devices to collect information from people who don't mail back their census forms. Minorities, immigrants and poor people are more likely to lack fixed addresses and to find census forms confusing or suspicious and therefore are less likely to return them by mail, experts said. The follow-up home visit ensures they are tallied properly, and the electronic devices are described as more efficient than the pen and paper method that will be used in 2010.

RELATED READING:

US Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov/

Continuing resolution threatens preparations for 2010 census (US Census Bureau 16 Oct 2007)
http://www.census.gov/2010census/recent_news/010982.html

Census switch worries some (Washington Post 8 Jul 2008)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/07/AR2008070702380.html?hpid=sec-nation

Census won't recognize gay marriages in 2010 count (AP 17 Jul 2008)
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gAHGBBKEVMYT6PLW2fngLkeDDIfgD91VPG300

US census: Everyone will be a minority by 2042 (Miami Herald 14 Aug 2008)
http://www.miamiherald.com/newsletters/five_min/story/641325.html