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The Proceedings of the 1993 Research Conference on Undercounted Ethnic Population
The Proceedings of the 1993 Research Conference on Undercounted Ethnic Population
Introduction
When one considers the enormous size and diversity of the United States population, the 1990 census achieved a remarkably low undercount. The national census count differed from the true population by less than two percent. Nor was this result an anomaly. As measured by the net undercount, census taking accuracy has shown an historic improvement from over 4 percent in 1950, to near 3 percent in 1960 and 1970 to a level of below 2 percent for the 1980 and 1990 censuses. Indeed, before World War II, undercounts of 6 and 7 percent were not uncommon.
However, underlying the steady improvement in the national average undercount is a persistent differential undercount. The undercount of Black Americans has been more than 3 percent higher than the national average for every census since World War II. The undercount of Black males has been 5 or more percentage points higher than the national undercount for these four censuses.
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Page Last Revised - October 8, 2021
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