Hispanic or Latino and Middle Eastern or North African will be federal race categories
The terms Hispanic or Latino and Middle Eastern or North African will now be listed as a single race/ethnicity category in federal forms, reflecting the reality of how many Americans identify, federal officials said.
For the first time, Hispanic or Latino is listed as one race/ethnicity category and people of Middle Eastern or North African descent will have their own checkbox under new race and ethnicity standards adopted by the Biden administration.
Up to now, Hispanics had a two-part question for their identity: They were asked whether they were Hispanic or Latino and then asked to pick a race of white, Black, American Indian or some other race.
The change now uses one question for race and ethnicity and allows people to check as many as apply to their identity. Each category has subcategories with examples that may apply and room for those that may not be listed.
The addition of a Middle Eastern or North African, or MENA, identifier would allow some 7 million to 8 million people to no longer have to identify as “white” or “other” on the census and other forms in which such data is collected.
The changes are only the second update by the federal government to categories for data on the American population. The update — the last was in 1997 — of standards used by the federal government for the census and other agencies is meant to better capture the expanding multicultural identity of the country.
Rating: 5