US Census incorrectly counts 18.8 million people in 2020 survey, undercounting Black, Latino and Native Americans

The US Census continued a trend of undercounting Black, Latino and Native American populations in its 2020 survey, which overcounted white Americans and Asian Americans in the once-a-decade count of the nation’s population.

Latinos were undercounted in the 2020 survey at a rate of roughly three times the missed count in 2010, while people who identified as white and not Latino were overcounted at a rate of nearly double that of 2010, according to findings released on 10 March.

The survey undercounted the nation’s population by 18.8 million people, according to the Census Bureau, revealing highly anticipated findings that follow preliminary results from a survey that directs the nation’s political representation and federal funding for the next 10 years.

Despite the omissions, bureau director Robert Santos said the results were largely consistent with earlier census results and historically undercounted and so-called “hard-to-reach” populations.

The results show “statistical evidence that the quality of the 2020 Census total population count is consistent with that of recent censuses,” he said in a statement on Thursday. “This is notable, given the unprecedented challenges of 2020. 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.”

The nation’s population grew to more than 323.2 million, marking a 5 per cent increase from the previous decade.

The post-enumeration survey, used to measure the accuracy of the census, estimated 18.8 million omissions, or “people who were not correctly counted in the census.”

“Some of these people were missed by the census,” according to the agency. “However, omissions may have been accounted for in the census counts as whole-person imputations.”

The survey also undercounted children up to 17 years old, particularly young children up to 4 years old, according to the bureau. The agency says young children are “persistently undercounted in the decennial census.”

The 2020 survey faced a series of challenges as it began at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and climate disasters across the US.

Then-President Donald Trump also moved up a deadline to finish the count, prompting fears that the results would miss large chunks of the nation’s population and produce flawed data, and criticism that the administration interfered with the count for politically motivated reasons.

“Taking today’s findings as a whole, we believe the 2020 Census data are fit for many uses in decision-making as well as for painting a vivid portrait of our nation’s people,” Mr Santos said. “We’ll be exploring the under- and overcounts further. That is part of our due diligence, our pursuit of excellence, and our service to the country.”