From the course: Everyday Statistics, with Eddie Davila

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The U.S. Census

The U.S. Census

From the course: Everyday Statistics, with Eddie Davila

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The U.S. Census

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- [Instructor] Every 10 years, the United States seeks to count every person living in the country. This is done via the decennial census. Most of us just refer to it as the census. And the census seeks to count everyone, citizens, legal aliens, and illegal aliens as well. It is the law. More than that, it is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. Why is it deemed so important? Proportional representation is the basis of the U.S. government, thus knowing how many people there are in the country, in each state, and then in each district is important for determining the number of congressional representatives allotted to each district. The census data also helps determine how federal resources will be allocated. So getting federal support for schools, healthcare, and other services is determined in part by census data. Undercounting for any region could cause significant problems. This is where statistics come in to play.…

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