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US Census Bureau provides details on the 2020 census for insular areas

reporters@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In documents recently made public, the US Census Bureau provided a summary of the 2020 Island Area Census, in which it will partner with territorial government agencies in American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, and the US Virgin Islands.

There’s no date given as to when the census will commence for the insular areas, but the ASG Department of Commerce will again partner with the feds for the census, which is carried out every 10 years, although the ASG-DOC provides an estimated population count every year.

The Census Bureau says it will provide the materials and guidance to local government agencies that are then responsible for recruiting and hiring local staff to conduct the data collection phase through in-person enumeration.

The Island Areas Census questionnaire leverages the American Community Survey questionnaire, with minor wording changes. These changes include accommodating time reference differences and incorporating the final 2020 Census questions while taking into account the Island Areas local governments’ concerns, where possible.

All data collection activities will rely on the use of paper questionnaires, paper maps, and paper address registers to record the physical addresses of housing units and group quarters, it says, adding that the agency’s Master Address File (MAF) does not include addresses for the Island Areas, so the address registers become the address list for the Island Areas Censuses.

The Census Bureau conducts “two quality control operations”: Re-interview for a sample of questionnaires, and  independent address check. The Census Offices also conducts a clerical review of all completed questionnaires for completeness and data consistency.

“After the Island Areas Censuses collects the detailed demographic and housing data, the data will be processed through the Decennial Response Processing System,” it says. “Data products will include counts of the population and housing units, data profiles, subject tables, ranking tables, and supplemental tables.”