2000 Census

The decennial census was the federal government's largest and most complexpeacetime operation. This report of a panel of the National Research Council'sCommittee on National Statistics comprehensively reviews the conduct of the 2000census and the quality of the resulting data. The panel's findings cover the planningprocess for 2000, which was marked by an atmosphere of intense controversy aboutthe proposed role of statistical techniques in the census enumeration and possibleadjustment for errors in counting the population. The report addresses the successand problems of major innovations in census operations, the completeness of populationcoverage in 2000, and the quality of both the basic demographic data collectedfrom all census respondents and the detailed socioeconomic data collected fromthe census long-form sample (about one-sixth of the population). The panel drawscomparisons with the 1990 experience and recommends improvements in the planningprocess and design for 2010. The 2000 Census: Counting Under Adversity will bean invaluable resource for users of the 2000 data and for policymakers and censusplanners. It provides a trove of information about the issues that have fueled debateabout the census process and about the operations and quality of the nation'stwenty-second decennial enumeration.