NPR

No Middle Eastern Or North African Category On 2020 Census, Bureau Says

The Census Bureau's announcement about its race and ethnicity questions disappoints advocates who for years have been pushing for a check box for people with roots in the Middle East or North Africa.
The U.S. Census Bureau says more research is needed before a separate category for people with roots in the Middle East or North Africa can be added to census forms.

There's been a decades-long push for the U.S. Census Bureau to collect more detailed data on people with roots in the Middle East or North Africa, also known as MENA. Advocates of that campaign hit another roadblock Friday, when the Census Bureau it is not planning to add a MENA category to the 2020 census."We do feel that more research and testing is needed," Karen Battle, chief of the bureau's population division, explained Friday at a .

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