2000 Census

WASHINGTON -- To cut costs and improve accuracy, the Census Bureau said yesterday that it would actually count only 90 percent of the United States population in 2000 and rely on statistical sampling methods to determine the number remaining.The plans, announced at the Commerce Department, mean that for the first time, the official tally of the U.S. population, done every 10 years and used to apportion seats in the House of Representatives, will be based in part on a scientifically determined estimate rather than the actual head count conducted through a massive direct mail campaign.

WASHINGTON -- Facing soaring costs and evidence that the 1990 census was in some ways the least accurate in decades, the Census Bureau is planning wholesale changes in how it will collect data in the year 2000 and beyond.One change that is expected to be adopted, census officials say, is the use of sophisticated estimates based on surveys to supplement the actual counting -- a volatile issue that was the center of a partisan battle in the last census.The bureau is also considering scrapping the long-form survey that has been used once a decade to gather information as varied as household incomes and how many telephones a particular residence has.In its place, the bureau plans extensive monthly surveys conducted over an entire decade, providing a more timely flow of data.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Census Bureau, under fire from Congress for the high cost and inaccuracy of the 1990 count, is contemplating some radical changes in the next tabulation.The planning is spurred by lawmakers' threats to reduce the census in the year 2000 to a simple population count, eliminating the data on housing, education, transportation and employment that has been used extensively by city planners, telemarketers, academics and others.In the past, such information has been collected from one of every six households on a census "long form."

Barbara Bryant, director of the Census Bureau, was absolutely right when she said, "We cannot afford to plan to take the next census as we have taken recent censuses." Certainly not the way the bureau took the 1990 one.To begin with, the 1990 census was, at $2.6 billion, far too expensive. The General Accounting Office told Congress last month that the 1990 census cost 65 percent more in constant dollars than the 1980 census. Of course, there were more people to count, but the 1990 cost per household was $25, compared to $20 (constant dollars)