Issues of Counting Americans Overseas in Future Censuses

By U. S. Census Bureau Department

Book Id: WPLBN0000588377
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 0.3 MB
Reproduction Date: 2005

Title:	Issues of Counting Americans Overseas in Future Censuses
Author:	U. S. Census Bureau Department
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Government publications, Census., Census report
Collections:	Government Library Collection, U.S. Census Bureau Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	United States Census Bureau Department


Citation APA MLA Chicago Census Bureau Department, B. U. (n.d.). Issues of Counting Americans Overseas in Future Censuses. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Statistical Reference Document

Excerpt
Excerpt: House Report 106-1005 directed the U.S. Department of Commerce to submit to the Congress a written report on the issues associated with the inclusion of American citizens and their dependents living abroad in the decennial censuses for apportionment, redistricting, and other purposes for which census results are used. The enclosed document fulfills this request. The U.S. Census Bureau is currently planning a conference in November 2001 with census stakeholders to obtain input into the policy and technical issues raised in this report. We will notify the Congress when the exact dates for this conference have been established. If the Census Bureau determines that it is possible to proceed with the development of operations to enumerate American citizens and their dependents living abroad in the decennial census, methodologies will be tested in conjunction with the scheduled census tests in FY 2004, FY 2006, and the census dress rehearsal in FY 2008.

Table of Contents
Contents Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. Key policy issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2.1 What should be the goal(s) of the Census Bureau in making the overseas counts? . . . . . 2 2.2 What would be the implication of conducting a census count that would take a different form than the stateside enumeration because it could not use a master address file and would be voluntary in nature? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2.3 What are the implications of applying the concept of usual residence to Americans living overseas? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2.4 Which components of the American overseas population should the Census Bureau count? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2.5 What is the Census Bureau?s approach for reaching a decision on these policy issues? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3. Conceptual issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3.1 What should the Census Bureau consider when assigning Americans living overseas to a home state or census block? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3.2 Should the Census Bureau strive for global coverage of Americans overseas? . . . . . . . . 5 4. Methodological issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4.1 How to estimate the size of this population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4.2 Can the Census Bureau use administrative records to estimate the size of the Americans overseas population? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4.3 What is the ?best? data collection strategy for an overseas census that would meet the Census Bureau quality standards? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4.3.1 Can the Census Bureau use administrative records to count U.S. citizens abroad in place of self-enumeration through a questionnaire? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4.3.1.1 Records from official U.S. entities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4.3.1.2 Records from private entities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 4.3.1.3 Records maintained by other countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 4.3.2 Can the Census Bureau use a self-enumeration approach for the Americans overseas population? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 4.3.2.1 How to distribute census forms to the target population. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 4.3.2.2 How to publicize the overseas enumeration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 4.3.2.3 How to deal with nonrespondents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 4.3.2.4 How to unduplicate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 4.3.3 Can the Census Bureau use both a self-enumeration approach and administrative records? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 4.4 What verification and validation methods would the Census Bureau use? . . . . . . . . . . . 14