Exploring Explanations for the High Net Undercount of Young Children in the 2010 U.S. Census

Abstract

There is clear evidence that young children (between the ages of 0–4) were significantly undercounted in the 2010 U.S. Census (O’Hare 2014a, 2015). The Census Bureau’s analysis of the 2010 Census reported a net undercount rate of 4.6% for the population age 0–4, which amounts almost one million young children. This net undercount rate was more than twice as high as the next highest undercount rate of 2.2% for age group 5–9 (Hogan et al. 2013). Moreover, research shows that this undercount has increased dramatically since 1980 (O’Hare 2014b).