By Suzanne Gamboa -
NBC News
For the first time, Latinos or Hispanics will be classified as a race or ethnicity and people from the Middle East or descendants of North Africa will have their own box under the new race and ethnic origin standards adopted by the Government of President Joe Biden.
Until now, Hispanics had a double question about their identity: they were asked if they were Hispanic or Latino and then they had to choose a race between white, black, Native American or another.
The change now uses one question for race and ethnicity and allows people to choose all that apply to their identity. Each category has subcategories with examples that might apply, leaving room for those that aren't mentioned.
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The addition of the Middle East or North Africa, or MENA, option would allow 7 to 8 million people to no longer have to identify themselves as white or other in the Census and other surveys in which this type of data is collected .
These changes are the federal government's second update, the last being in 1997, to categories for population data in the United States and seek to better capture the country's expanding multicultural identity.
“These updated standards will help create more useful, accurate and up-to-date federal statistics on race and ethnicity,” said an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) official who spoke to reporters Tuesday on condition of anonymity.
A pollster conducts a Census interview. Patrick T. Fallon / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
“And these reviews will improve our ability to compare information and data across federal agencies and also understand again how our federal programs are meeting a diverse United States,” the official said.
The changes went into effect Tuesday and agencies have up to 18 months to design plans to comply with them and then up to five years to implement them, although some will likely do so sooner, according to the OMB.
The new standards reflect 2020 Census results that showed that most Hispanics do not identify as white, black or Asian and were more likely to choose “some other race” in the survey or choose “two or more races.”
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Research showed that the two-part question is confusing and that since 1980, nonresponses to the race category have increased, the OMB detailed in an explanation of its recommendations.
In the 2020 Census, four in ten Hispanics, or 42%, checked “some other race.” One-third chose two or more racial groups and 20% chose white as their race, according to a Pew Research Center analysis.
The two new categories will have subcategories, for Latinos or Hispanics there are: “Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Salvadorans, Cubans, Dominicans, Guatemalans, etc.”
For the Middle East or North Africa the subcategories are: “Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Syrian, Israeli, etc.”
Some people in the Afro-Latino community and Black Latinos have vocalized concerns that the combined question could dilute their visibility, but the OMB said its research showed that estimates for Afro-Latino populations were slightly higher with a combined question that also provides detailed categories. and field to write.
However, the task force recommended more research on the topic because about half of the Afro-Latinos interviewed for the changes only chose the categories Hispanic or Latino, or black or African American when recruited by pollsters.
Although the standard is designed for federal agencies, its effect goes beyond that field. Many researchers, local and state governments, as well as non-governmental organizations, follow the changes that also shape policies, affect representation in Government through redistricting, and in some ways social perspectives.
The revisions were developed by a group of professionals from 35 agencies who received more than 20,000 comments after recommending the first changes in January 2023, according to the OMB. The task force also held 94 “feedback sessions,” three virtual town hall meetings and tribal consultations for its revised proposals, according to the agency.
Additionally, the Interagency Committee on Race and Ethnicity Statistical Standards is being created to continue research because the updating process “showed that racial and ethnic identities, concepts and data, need to continue evolving.”