The 2010 Decennial Census: Background and Issues

Abstract

On Census Day, April 1, 2010, the Bureau of the Census will fulfill the constitutional mandate for an enumeration of the U.S. population every 10 years. The Bureau's task has been summarized with deceptive simplicity: count each person whose usual residence is in the United States; count the person only once; and count him or her at the right location. In reality, the attempt to find all U.S. residents and correctly enumerate them using mail-out, mail-back census forms is increasingly complicated and expensive, and has attracted congressional scrutiny. This report discusses the major innovations planned for 2010, problems encountered in the attempt to automate certain decennial field operations, issues of census accuracy and coverage, and efforts to ensure an equitable count.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 27, 2009
Accession Number
ADA500417

Entities

People

  • Jennifer D. Williams

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Business Administration
  • Commerce
  • Computers
  • Congress
  • Demography
  • Families (Human)
  • Geographic Regions
  • Governments
  • Information Systems
  • Law
  • Local Governments
  • Minority Groups
  • Mobile Devices
  • National Governments
  • Public Policy
  • United States
  • Websites

Fields of Study

  • Mathematics

Readers

  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Personnel Management and Statistics in the Military and Department of Defense
  • Systems Analysis and Design