Featuring Warren Brown
Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research (CISER) and Cornell Program on Applied Demographics in the College of Human Ecology

The U.S. Constitution mandates that an enumeration of all persons be carried out every ten years and used as the basis for apportioning Representatives among the states. The 2020 Census of Population and Housing has been one of the most controversial and problem ridden in the long history of federal censuses dating back to the first one in 1790. The challenges that were anticipated included cost-cutting to halt the trend in increasing expenditures while enumerating a population that is increasingly diverse, mobile and wary of surveys and government intrusion. What had not been anticipated were the political turmoil over counting non-citizens and the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. I will present details on how the Census Bureau carries out its mission of “Counting Everyone Once, Only Once, and in the Right Place.” Once the enumeration has been completed the Census Bureau produces a series of data products used by government agencies, private businesses and organizations, and individuals. I will review ongoing controversies on balancing the need for detailed accurate data against individual privacy concerns in the Information Age