US Census Categories to include MENA, change Hispanic ethnicity

The US census will change its demographic categories to include a Middle Eastern / North African (MENA) category, separate from white / caucasian, and to classify as Hispanic / Latinx identity as a race and an ethnicity.

Reporting from Hansi Lo Wang, NPR, shows the questionnaire in the OMB statistical directive.

The Biden administration has approved proposals for a new response option for “Middle Eastern or North African” and a “Hispanic or Latino” box that appears under a reformatted question that asks: “What is your race and/or ethnicity?”

Going forward, participants in federal surveys will be presented with at least seven “race and/or ethnicity” categories, along with instructions that say: “Select all that apply.”

The changes are responsive to community advocates and recommendations from data equity working groups seeking to monitor government programs that serve racial minority and other marginalized groups. The years of research and discussion by federal officials goes back to 2014 and was announced in a Federal Register notice before its official publication.

MHC