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2020 Census Undercounted U.S. Population by Nearly 19 Million

Tender Branson

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By Maria Cramer
March 10, 2022, 12:50 p.m. ET

The 2020 census undercounted the country’s population by 18.8 million people, the Census Bureau said on Thursday, acknowledging that the count had underrepresented Black, Latino and Indigenous residents.

At the same time, the census overcounted the number of white and Asian residents, the bureau said.

Robert L. Santos, the bureau’s director, said that despite the omissions, the results were consistent with recent censuses.

“This is notable, given the unprecedented challenges of 2020,” he said in a statement. “But the results also include some limitations — the 2020 census undercounted many of the same population groups we have historically undercounted, and it overcounted others.”

“We remain proud of the job we accomplished in the face of immense challenges,” Mr. Santos said. “And we are ready to work with the stakeholders and the public to fully leverage this enormously valuable resource.”

The 2020 census faced a series of challenges. The coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the count just as it was beginning in April 2020, forcing the bureau to extend its work by nearly two months. Later in the year, wildfires in the West and coastal hurricanes upended the bureau’s work just as door-knockers were fanning out to survey millions of households that had not filled out their forms.

The Trump administration later moved up the deadline to finish the counting, raising concerns about an undercount. The problems led many experts, including some senior Census Bureau officials, to worry that the final count would be fatally flawed.

In September, a 59-page analysis of the 2020 census commissioned and reviewed by the American Statistical Association said the count appeared accurate enough for its overriding constitutional purpose: reallocating the 435 seats in the House of Representatives.

But the experts who drafted the report limited their findings to the overall national tally and counts in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Much more study would be needed, they said, to gauge the reliability of local population totals and characteristics such as race and ethnicity that are vital parts of every census.


🧐
 
I feel this is something people could bring in law suits to challenge redistricting in states regardless of political swing.


Like serious everything that man does touches goes to shit and yet people still want him back.
 
After reading more about it, the 18.8 million undercount figure are those who were not met at home by a census taker, or who failed to submit their census forms (after repeated reminders).

These 18.8 million people are so-called omissions.

But it doesn’t mean that all of them were not counted:

If a census taker visited a home of a person who did not respond by submitting their form and was not able to meet this person at home, the census taker could ask neighbors to „input“ the missing person(s).
 
WOW . . .this like a MASSIVE failure to me lol
i mean how many whole states have more than 18 million people . . like 4?

In the PES, the Census Bureau estimated 18.8 million omissions in the population. Omissions are people who were not correctly counted in the census. Some of these people were missed by the census. However, omissions may have been accounted for in the census counts as whole-person imputations.

But i have no clue about the history of the census accuracy, maybe they are typically off by this much which would still be terrible IMO but not as big of a deal . . .
 
All of this shows that the US needs a European style civil registration system, in which babies are automatically registered in a database as a resident of a city, county, state and people who die get removed from it.

People who move must change their residence entry in that database upon moving to a new city, or abroad, or face a hefty financial penalty or imprisonment. Immigrants are also added to the database, or removed if they leave.

If you establish such rules and a population register, you can then conduct a register-based Census every year, without the population having to fill out a Census form every 10 years.
 
As the US has a population of 335 million and 19 million people were missed in the Census, it means that 6% of the US population were not reached, refused, or were not counted in-person.

It is pretty good though that 94% were counted, of which some 70% filled out their census form themselves + for their children and returned it. 24% were visited by a census taker and counted, without a doubt of residence or that this person exists.

Then you had the 6% who refused to be counted, or had to be imputed by the census takers. This is a shady guesswork, by asking neighbors how many people live next door …
 
By Maria Cramer
March 10, 2022, 12:50 p.m. ET

The 2020 census undercounted the country’s population by 18.8 million people, the Census Bureau said on Thursday, acknowledging that the count had underrepresented Black, Latino and Indigenous residents.

At the same time, the census overcounted the number of white and Asian residents, the bureau said.

Robert L. Santos, the bureau’s director, said that despite the omissions, the results were consistent with recent censuses.

“This is notable, given the unprecedented challenges of 2020,” he said in a statement. “But the results also include some limitations — the 2020 census undercounted many of the same population groups we have historically undercounted, and it overcounted others.”

“We remain proud of the job we accomplished in the face of immense challenges,” Mr. Santos said. “And we are ready to work with the stakeholders and the public to fully leverage this enormously valuable resource.”

The 2020 census faced a series of challenges. The coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the count just as it was beginning in April 2020, forcing the bureau to extend its work by nearly two months. Later in the year, wildfires in the West and coastal hurricanes upended the bureau’s work just as door-knockers were fanning out to survey millions of households that had not filled out their forms.

The Trump administration later moved up the deadline to finish the counting, raising concerns about an undercount. The problems led many experts, including some senior Census Bureau officials, to worry that the final count would be fatally flawed.

In September, a 59-page analysis of the 2020 census commissioned and reviewed by the American Statistical Association said the count appeared accurate enough for its overriding constitutional purpose: reallocating the 435 seats in the House of Representatives.

But the experts who drafted the report limited their findings to the overall national tally and counts in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Much more study would be needed, they said, to gauge the reliability of local population totals and characteristics such as race and ethnicity that are vital parts of every census.


🧐
No surprise here. This was a combination of the complexity of counting during CoVid and Trump sabotaging the process. The Republicans wanted to under-count minorities and ignore illegals. It likely cost California an HoR seat and made gerrymandering in other states that much more effective.

 
Hmmm....how does one determine that a census undercounts or overcounts anything? It's the INVENTORY, the benchmark against which the ESTIMATES are checked.

Not the other way around.

And the census should check CITIZENS, and not their color or sex or religion or how many refrigerators they might own.
 
All of this shows that the US needs a European style civil registration system, in which babies are automatically registered in a database as a resident of a city, county, state and people who die get removed from it.

People who move must change their residence entry in that database upon moving to a new city, or abroad, or face a hefty financial penalty or imprisonment. Immigrants are also added to the database, or removed if they leave.

If you establish such rules and a population register, you can then conduct a register-based Census every year, without the population having to fill out a Census form every 10 years.
Or....once every ten years the federal government counts the number of citizens in each state and apportions Congressional representation based on that count and nobody worries otherwise about who lives where, because...it's none of the government's business where the citizens move around to.

When the citizen registers to vote, the citizen presents proof of residency and a valid photo ID showing citizenship in the United States.

Not complicated at all, and let's leave bad European ideas to bad Europeans.
 
They didn't count me or anyone in my family because I live in California, and the last thing we want is California getting more electoral votes, or more congressional representation. I haven't responded to the census in 30 years.
 
Or....once every ten years the federal government counts the number of citizens in each state and apportions Congressional representation based on that count and nobody worries otherwise about who lives where, because...it's none of the government's business where the citizens move around to.

When the citizen registers to vote, the citizen presents proof of residency and a valid photo ID showing citizenship in the United States.

Not complicated at all, and let's leave bad European ideas to bad Europeans.

The US Census count every 10 years must count ALL PEOPLE in the country, not just citizens - as the Constitution requires. Excluding tourists of course, who are not counted in any census in the world.

Besides, our European civil registration system is not bad in most cases, but rather helpful - because A) by having a population database you get up-to-date population statistics and don’t have to rely on costly censuses every 10 years or annual „guesstimates“. And B) the government doesn’t care where you moved to, because this information is private anyway and can be accessed only by that person or with the consent of this person. For example, if a child was adopted and is looking for her original parents, and there is an indication that a parent lived in that town a few years back, that baby (now an adult) can go to the magistrate of that town and ask for information.
 
People not white were undercounted by the census... I'm shocked, anyone else?
 
They didn't count me or anyone in my family because I live in California, and the last thing we want is California getting more electoral votes, or more congressional representation. I haven't responded to the census in 30 years.

Why didn’t you respond ?

Thats very irresponsible from you from a citizen perspective.

As a citizen of a country you not just have certain rights, but also duties.

And one of them is to take part in a Census (which in the US is only every 10 years !) to get an accurate picture of the national demographics.

I don’t understand why people don’t take part, or refuse, or are lazy when it’s just every 10 years.

And it’s not controversial, or shouldn’t be. It’s just demographics and statistics.
 
After reading more about it, the 18.8 million undercount figure are those who were not met at home by a census taker, or who failed to submit their census forms (after repeated reminders).

These 18.8 million people are so-called omissions.

But it doesn’t mean that all of them were not counted:

If a census taker visited a home of a person who did not respond by submitting their form and was not able to meet this person at home, the census taker could ask neighbors to „input“ the missing person(s).
Neighbors?
 
Neighbors?

Yeah.

70% of American people submitted their census forms themselves and were counted.

An additional 25% were counted at their homes when a census taker visited, after not responding by themselves.

5 to 6% of American households never responded themselves, neither when it was possible by internet, by mail return questionnaire or by phone. These households then got several reminder letters too. Then, census takers visited the households once, but sometimes up to 6 times.

There is a chance that a lot of these households are empty and abandoned (see Detroit), which has a lot of houses on record, but most are rotten and abandoned.

Then, you have a lot of anti-government people who don’t respond.

Census takers had to figure out if such a household was still inhabited or abandoned, the former by asking neighbors.

If neighbors said, yeah, this home is inhabited and 2 people are living there, then the census taker counted 2 people - despite being „uncounted“ at first.

So, the 19 million undercount figure in the headline is not really accurate: many of the 19 million initially omitted were accounted for and „imputed“.
 
Why didn’t you respond ?

Thats very irresponsible from you from a citizen perspective.
As I said, an under count in California would possibly mean fewer congressional votes in the house of representatives. And since I live in a liberal district (due to democrat gerrymandering) then fewer democrat votes in Washington is a worthy goal in my opinion.



As a citizen of a country you not just have certain rights, but also duties.

And one of them is to take part in a Census (which in the US is only every 10 years !) to get an accurate picture of the national demographics.
The census as originally designed was just to count the number of citizens. Its role has since been distorted over time.


I don’t understand why people don’t take part, or refuse, or are lazy when it’s just every 10 years.

No, it wasn't lazy. I even went so far as to change the address numbers on my house before the census to confuse the census taker. Then I never answer the door, and don't respond to any letters.
And it’s not controversial, or shouldn’t be. It’s just demographics and statistics.
The demographic and statistics were not part of the original law. I object to giving personal information that they don't need to get a count.
 

The data from the Census Bureau is different?

Which is correct?

Both.

There are just 2 different interpretations of the count quality.

Census Bureau:

National Coverage Results​

The PES found that the 2020 Census had neither an undercount nor an overcount for the nation. It estimated a net coverage error of -0.24% (or 782,000 people) with a standard error of 0.25% for the nation, which was not statistically different from zero. By comparison, in the 2010 Census, the PES did not estimate a statistically significant undercount or overcount.

So, 19 million people were initially omitted because they didn’t respond on their own. But were kinda accounted for after census takers asked their neighbors.

Overall, after accounting them, the Census Bureau said that only 0.24% of the estimated population in the US was not counted or overcounted, a solid result, similar to 2010.

But nobody knows if the 19 million initially omitted were really there, in their houses, or not. Information provided by neighbors is often patchy.

So, you can also interpret it as „undercounted“ by 19 million because of shady data.

The above poster, court jester, is a good example of such an omitted case …
 
As I said, an under count in California would possibly mean fewer congressional votes in the house of representatives. And since I live in a liberal district (due to democrat gerrymandering) then fewer democrat votes in Washington is a worthy goal in my opinion.

The demographic and statistics were not part of the original law. I object to giving personal information that they don't need to get a count.

Ok.

But that doesn’t excuse you from not taking part at all.

You were able to respond by internet questionnaire, by mail or by phone in the first stage, even before any census taker visited.

And if you had responded by internet/mail/phone, you could have just filled out question 1: How many people live in this household ? One.

And you would be counted, while leaving the age/race/etc. questions blank …
 
Yeah.

70% of American people submitted their census forms themselves and were counted.

An additional 25% were counted at their homes when a census taker visited, after not responding by themselves.

5 to 6% of American households never responded themselves, neither when it was possible by internet, by mail return questionnaire or by phone. These households then got several reminder letters too. Then, census takers visited the households once, but sometimes up to 6 times.

There is a chance that a lot of these households are empty and abandoned (see Detroit), which has a lot of houses on record, but most are rotten and abandoned.

Then, you have a lot of anti-government people who don’t respond.

Census takers had to figure out if such a household was still inhabited or abandoned, the former by asking neighbors.

If neighbors said, yeah, this home is inhabited and 2 people are living there, then the census taker counted 2 people - despite being „uncounted“ at first.

So, the 19 million undercount figure in the headline is not really accurate: many of the 19 million initially omitted were accounted for and „imputed“.
It takes just a few minutes to answer. We were visited twice, had to make sure we weren't counted twice.
We now have another almost ten years to, hopefully, set aside and educate about the census. Stopping the rumor mill would go a long way.
 
It takes just a few minutes to answer. We were visited twice, had to make sure we weren't counted twice.
We now have another almost ten years to, hopefully, set aside and educate about the census. Stopping the rumor mill would go a long way.

I fully agree.

The Census (only every 10 years !) shouldn’t be controversial at all, it’s a scientific measure to get a picture of the country, people and its composition.

And to plan new roads, bridges, railway, hospitals, care homes, etc. - depending if a region or city grows fast or declines.
 
You were able to respond by internet questionnaire, by mail or by phone in the first stage, even before any census taker visited.
Yep.

2 minute online and it was completed for our house. Not really a complicated process.

Sometimes I do think that many people do NOT appreciate the need/value in responding to a census though.
 
Yep.

2 minute online and it was completed for our house. Not really a complicated process.

Sometimes I do think that many people do NOT appreciate the need/value in responding to a census though.

Despite a big information campaign ahead of the operation, many people still seem to be very uneducated or ignorant of the Census - something taking place only every 10 years !

They don’t understand what it means and what’s connected to it in terms of infrastructure planning.

If a count isn’t done correctly and many people are not accounted for (or wrongly), it will have a lasting negative impact for a decade or two.

People have not only rights, but also duties and need to understand that the people of a country make up the government of that country collectively and therefore shape the services & infrastructure that the government or country is providing.

The more people participate & with accurate data, the better the infrastructure of a country.
 
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