Word: census
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...Year Census...
Currently, the U.S. holds a census every 10 years in which most of the people-counting is done by mail, according to Tom Belian, a graduate student working with Rubin on the project. Every American household receives a census form, which reports the number of people living at their home. "It's a huge undertaking, costing over $1 billion," Belian said. The Census Bureau has never before adjusted its population data...
Unfortunately, Rubin admits, solving the undercount problem involves more than just locating lazy census respondents. He says that the Department of Commerce realizes it misses those people who intentionally misrepresent the number of people in their households on their reports, as well as those who do not mail in any census forms...
...live in overcrowded apartments, where there are limits on the number of residents, will say there are fewer people in their households because they think somehow Uncle Sam will notify their landlords and get them thrown out," Rubin says. "Sometimes women will also omit their husbabnds' names from the census because they think they will get more welfare money to take care of their children...
Rubin says evasive tactics such as the above examples skew population data, particularly those pertaining to minorities. Officials estimate that six percent of all Blacks were under-counted in the 1980 census, but that only 0.5 percent of all whites were missed. Rubin estimates that the census is losing track of more than 15 percent of Black males in some areas...