Census

B

Early Censuses

The first U.S. census was taken in 1790 under the direction of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Assistant U.S. marshals were instructed to travel the country and ask six questions at each household: the name of the family head; the number of free white males 16 and over; the number of free white males under 16; the number of white females; the number of other free people (nonwhite); and the number of slaves. The assistant marshals faced several challenges. Maps of the new nation were scarce, town and county boundaries were vague or unknown, and many untrusting citizens were uncooperative. There were no standardized questionnaires, so the assistant marshals had to supply their own paper, a substantial expense at the time. The census was completed in 18 months. It revealed a population of 3.9 million people in the 14 states plus the Southwest Territory, which later became Tennessee. At the time, Massachusetts included what is now Maine, and Virginia included what is now Kentucky.

For the next 50 years, the census questions remained basically unchanged. There were tentative efforts to begin to collect data on the economic situation of the society, with a manufacturing census in 1810 and the first census of occupations in 1820. These efforts met with only limited success, and Congress, dissatisfied with the results, did not repeat the questions in 1830. The 1830 census marked the first use of uniform printed schedules (forms), but not until 1850 did Congress mandate a census schedule with a line of questions for each person, including the person’s name. Before then the census captured the characteristics of entire families rather than individuals.

In later years, the census became more elaborate, with more questions asked and more data published. By 1860, six separate census questionnaires posed 142 different questions covering population, health, mortality, literacy, occupation, income, agriculture, manufactures, mining, fishing, commerce, banking, insurance, transportation, schools, libraries, newspapers, crime, taxes, and religion. The 1860 census collected so much information that some could not be published before the next census took place. In 1880, when the American population topped 50 million residents, the census was still compiled by hand, using a primitive tally system. The results from the 1880 census took eight years to tabulate and publish.

C

Breakthroughs in Automation

Automated tabulation of census data was made possible by the inventions of Herman Hollerith, an American engineer. In the 1880s Hollerith invented a machine that tabulated information on punched cards. The U.S. government used his machines for the 1890 census. Census clerks converted each person’s answers on the questionnaire to holes punched in a card, then ran the cards through the tabulating machines. The results were completed in only one year. Hollerith’s machine marked the beginning of modern data processing and led to further innovations in tabulating large amounts of data. His Tabulating Machine Company, founded in 1896, merged with other companies in 1911 to become the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, which in 1924 became International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

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In the late 1940s, the Census Bureau commissioned the construction of a computer for mass statistical calculations, UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer). The UNIVAC was the first commercial, nonmilitary computer in the United States. Although UNIVAC accelerated processing of census data, it still required card punching for data input, a time-intensive task. By the late 1950s, the Census Bureau dispensed with the punch cards and, working with the National Bureau of Standards, developed the film optical scanning device for input to computers (FOSDIC), an electronic scanning system. FOSDIC scanned census questionnaires onto microfilm, then read the marks on the microfilmed questionnaires and transferred the data to computer tape. For information on modern processing methods, see the subsection Processing and Analysis of Data in the Conducting a Census section of this article.

D

Modern Censuses

The Census Bureau first used the statistical technique of sampling (collecting certain data from only a small sample of the population) in the 1940 census. This technique allowed the bureau to gather detailed information at a reduced burden to the public. In 1960 the bureau experimented with a mail census. The Census Bureau developed automated address files for the country, and in 1970 the American census was conducted primarily by mail. Today, more than 90 percent of residential addresses in the United States receive the census form in the mail. In the 1990 census, only 65 percent of households that received a census form in the mail returned it. Beginning with the 2000 census, the Census Bureau offered an “Internet Form,” which gave recipients of the paper short form the option to submit their answers via the bureau’s Web site. In the 2000 census, 67 percent of households returned a census form, reversing a three-decade decline in response rates.

Today, the decennial census of population and housing is taken in years ending in 0. An economic census is conducted every five years, in years ending in 2 and 7. The economic census is the major source of facts about the structure and functioning of the U.S. economy. It covers a wide variety of industries, such as manufacturing, mining, utilities, construction, transportation, information, finance and insurance, real estate, health care, educational services, and arts and entertainment. Separate censuses of agriculture and governments are conducted at the same time as the economic census. (Since 1997 the census of agriculture has been conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.) Between censuses, the Census Bureau conducts periodic sample surveys to collect information about the population. For example, the monthly Current Population Survey collects information from about 50,000 households.

The Census Bureau also updates the information from the decennial census in the American Community Survey (ACS). This survey collects data from a sample of American households every month instead of only once each decade. Begun in 1996 on a small demonstration scale, the ACS has been greatly expanded since 2003 to provide yearly data on households. The Census Bureau is now able to bring together the monthly information from the ACS to release tabulations on households for all U.S. congressional districts and counties, cities, and American Indian/Alaska native areas with populations of 65,000 or more. Data for smaller geographic areas are compiled and reported on a two-to-five-year basis. Data for people who live in group quarters and who would not be counted as part of households will be added in coming years. The information gathered includes age, race, ethnic origin, education, marital status, veterans, disability status, and U.S. citizenship. The 2005 results, announced in 2006, reflected a sample of about 250,000 addresses per month, and showed a notable growth in immigrants, from 11.2 percent of the nation's population in 2000 to 12.4 percent.

Under federal law, the Census Bureau must deliver state population counts from the decennial census to the president of the United States by January 1 of the year following the census. The counts are used to reapportion seats in the House of Representatives. The bureau must deliver population totals for all counties, cities, and other political divisions to each state legislature within one year of the census. States and local governments use these data to draw legislative and other district boundaries.

V

Canadian Censuses

National censuses were conducted in Canada every ten years beginning in 1851. Since 1956, they have been conducted every five years. In the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, censuses have been taken every five years since 1906. Statistics Canada, the national statistical agency, conducts all national censuses.

A

Early Censuses

The first census in what is now Canada was conducted in 1665 and 1666 by French official Jean Baptiste Talon, who was sent by King Louis XIV to administer the colony of New France. Talon organized a door-to-door enumeration of the colony’s inhabitants, many of whom had settled in the towns of Montréal, Trois-Rivières, Cap-de-la-Madeleine, and Québec. The census counted 3,215 people and recorded each person’s name, age, sex, place of residence, marital status, and occupation. In 1667 Talon gathered information on livestock owned and land under cultivation. Talon’s census is sometimes considered the first modern census because it provided such complete information. A total of 36 censuses were conducted during the French regime, ending with the census of 1739. These censuses added questions on buildings and dwellings, agricultural output, and industrial output. Further censuses were conducted after the onset of British rule in 1763, including annual censuses of Upper Canada and Lower Canada from 1824 to 1842.

Regular decennial censuses began in Canada in 1851, when the province of Canada was still controlled by the British Empire. The British North America Act of 1867 transformed Canada into a federation known as the Dominion of Canada. The act required that the census provide population counts so that representation in the House of Commons could be apportioned among the four provinces of Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. The counts would also serve for periodic readjustment of the boundaries of electoral districts.

The first census of the Dominion, taken in 1871, counted 3.7 million people. The census questionnaire was made available in English and French, a tradition continued in every census that followed. The 1871 census was a very elaborate affair, collecting information not only on population but also on agriculture, livestock, animal products, industrial establishments, forest products, shipping and fisheries, mining, and public institutions. Canada was primarily an agricultural nation at the time, and the census was conducted by the Department of Agriculture.

In 1905 the census bureau was made a permanent government agency in the Agriculture Department. In 1918 the government created a Dominion Bureau of Statistics, which had responsibility for taking the census and collecting other statistical information about Canada. The bureau was renamed Statistics Canada in 1971.

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