Abstract
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Demographic Analysis shows that the population aged 0 to 4 experienced a net undercount rate of 4.6 percent in the 2010 Decennial Census. This is more than twice as high as any other age group. Despite the fact that the relatively high net undercount of young children was uncovered more than fifty years ago, this problem has received little systematic attention from demographers. To help fill that gap in the literature, this study examines the accuracy of the count of children in the 2010 Decennial Census. The initial focus on all children shifts to a focus on young children (aged 0 to 4) where the net undercount rate is the highest. Discussion highlights some of the potential explanations for the findings.
Highlights
A high net undercount of young children has been documented historically in the U.S Decennial Census and a high net undercount of children has been experienced in societies as varied as China, South Africa, Laos, and the former Soviet Union [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
For the analysis presented in this paper, I used the figures from the revised Demographic Analysis (DA) estimates issued by the U.S Census Bureau in May 2012 for all groups except Hispanics
In the 2010 Decennial Census there was a net overcount of 0.1 percent of the total population based on DA, which translates into 400,000 people
Summary
A high net undercount of young children has been documented historically in the U.S Decennial Census and a high net undercount of children has been experienced in societies as varied as China, South Africa, Laos, and the former Soviet Union [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Previous research on the quality of the data from the 2010 U.S Decennial Census [9,10,11] provides limited data on the net coverage rate for children but provides little detail and no ideas about why young children have such a high net undercount in the Census. This study extends the stream of research regarding the net undercount of children by providing a detailed examination of net undercounts and overcounts of children (population aged 0 to 17) in the 2010 U.S Decennial Census. The reasons for focusing on the results of Demographic Analysis rather than the U.S Census Bureau’s Dual-System Estimates results are explained later in the paper
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