U.S. Census: Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) Added to Race and Ethnicity Data

Advocates have long pointed out the need for accurate data about Arab American communities that are missing in data collection, including the U.S. Census. The situation will improve thanks to a recent publication by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that sets “Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity,” the first revision since 1997.

The critical revisions fall into three areas:

1. Using one combined question for race and ethnicity, and encouraging respondents to select as many options as apply to how they identify, will replace the old race question with five choices and a separate ethnicity question to choose for Hispanic or Non-Hispanic.
2. Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) is being added as a new category. The new set of race and ethnicity categories are as follows:
   1. American Indian or Alaska Native
   2. Asian
   3. Black or African American
   4. Hispanic or Latino
   5. Middle Eastern or North African
   6. Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
   7. White
3. Requiring the collection of additional details beyond the above minimum-required race and ethnicity categories for most situations, to ensure further disaggregation in the collection, tabulation, and presentation of data when useful and appropriate.

In the past, most of the Americans tied to the new MENA category (individuals of Middle Eastern or North African descent) fell into the White category, which made it impossible to quantify the population and difficult to assess the needs of certain communities. As OMB officials indicated, the latest standards are meant to ensure we have high-quality federal data on race and ethnicity. That will help in understanding various impacts on individuals, programs and services, health outcomes, employment outcomes, and educational outcomes, among others.

So what’s next?

All federal agencies are required to submit an Action Plan for complete compliance with the new standards within 18 months and finish bringing all data collections and programs into compliance with the updated standards within five years. The revised standards will certainly impact data collection and analysis outside the federal government as well. The OMB publication can be accessed here.

Learn more in this article, “What Updates to OMB’s Race/Ethnicity Standards Mean for the Census Bureau” from U.S. Census Bureau.