The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

In this report:

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. The Importance of the Census
3. Census Accuracy: The Undercount (and Overcount)
4. Census 2010: Key Operations and Milestones; How You Can Get Involved
   1. Overview of the census plan
   2. What you need to know
   3. How you can help
5. Additional Information
   1. Frequently asked questions
   2. Facts and figures
   3. Census history

The Accuracy of the 2000 Census

For the 2000 census, the coverage of all groups improved over the 1990 census, when the differential undercount was the highest ever recorded. However, the large number of duplicates (people counted twice or included by mistake) and people “imputed” into the count using statistical methods helped reduce the net undercount for all groups by offsetting the number of people missed, estimated at almost 16 million.

Scientific evaluations also showed that the differential undercount between historically undercounted groups (minorities, renters, and children) and better-counted groups (whites and homeowners) persisted. The Black-White (non-Hispanic) differential undercount, while reduced from 1990, was the highest of all racial/ethnic groups: an estimated 3.0 percent differential in 2000, compared to 3.9 percent in 1990. All other racial groups and Hispanics were also undercounted, while whites were overcounted by about one percent. The owner-rental differential undercount also continued in 2000 with an estimated 2.4 percent in 2000, compared to 4.5 percent in 1990.

Next Section: Reasons behind the inaccuracies of the census