Biden Administration Proposes New Categories For Race And Ethnicity

Topline

The Biden administration proposed a variety of changes Thursday to how the U.S. Census collects race and ethnicity data, including adding new categories like “Middle Eastern or North African” and removing language like “majority” and “minority”—reflecting changes long sought by advocates who want the Census to be a more inclusive tool.

A sign promoting Native American participation in the U.S. census is displayed as Selena Rides Horse … [+] enters information into her phone on behalf of a member of the Crow Indian Tribe in Lodge Grass, Mont.

AP/Matthew Brown

Key Facts

The recommendations were made by a working group of civil servants at the request of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Among the proposals is a reformatted question of individuals’ ethnicity or race that would feature options for “Middle Eastern or North African” (MENA) and “Hispanic or Latino.”

The new format reflects a change from the existing question, which includes “Hispanic or Latino” under ethnicity, and then provides just five categories for race: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or White.

The group of civil servants also proposed more detailed race and ethnicity categories, for example, under the “Hispanic or Latino” box there are boxes with more specific descriptors including Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Colombian.

Removing “Negro” from the Black or African American definition and “Far East” from the Asian definition, replacing it with “East Asian,” and removing the terms “majority” and “minority” were among the other suggestions.

Maya Berry, the executive director of the Arab American Institute, who has been advocating for these changes for decades, said she was encouraged by Thursday’s announcement after being disappointed in 2020 that a “MENA” box was not added to the census.

Since the first time the OMB said it had to do more research on the issue in the early 1990’s, Berry said there’s been “a massive undercount of [the MENA] communities.”

If accepted, these suggestions would change the official definition of “white” that was set in 1997, that described “white” as anyone with origins in Europe, the Middle East or North Africa.

Key Background

Attempts to make the census more inclusive have a long history. It was 1960 when the census bureau first allowed U.S. residents to self-report their racial identities. At the time there was a suggested list but respondents could write in their own answer. Since then changes in reporting methods have been proposed, and some — like the 2000 addition of a “some other race” box —were approved, while others like the addition of the “MENA” box have been delayed. President Donald Trump’s administration stalled a multiyear review effort that could have included changes to the collection of racial and ethnic data, which began in 2014, NPR reported. Biden administration officials brought back the effort in 2021.

Tangent

The “some other race” box became the second most common answer in the 2020 census, with 15.1% of the total population checking that box either on its own or along with another race, according to Census data. Eight million more people checked the “some other race,” box in 2020 than in 2010 and 93% of the people who checked the “some other race” box alone were of Hispanic or Latino origin, Census data found.The ongoing conversation on whether being Hispanic or Latino is a question of culture, race or ancestry, leads more people to check the “some other race” box, according to Pew Research Center. A 2015 survey from Pew found that 17% of Hispanic adults said being Hispanic is mainly a matter of race, while 29% said it is mainly a matter of ancestry and 42% said it is mainly a matter of culture.

What To Watch For

OMB plans to make final decisions on revisions by Summer 2024.

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