Census continues to overlook minorities
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By HOPE YEN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A new government analysis shows the 2010 census generally was accurate, although it continued to disproportionately overlook minorities.
The Census Bureau reports it over-counted the total U.S. population by about 36,000 people, or 0.01 percent. That is compared to a census over-count of 0.5 percent in 2000.
Still, Census Bureau director Robert Groves notes that traditional hard-to-count groups, including blacks and Hispanics, remained difficult to tally.
The census missed about 2.1 percent of black Americans and 1.5 percent of Hispanics. That's statistically comparable to levels in 2000.
The South was more likely to have people who were missed, while the Midwest and Northeast posted small over-counts.
The once-a-decade population count is used to allocate House seats and more than $400 billion in federal money for roads, schools and social programs.
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