Census Bureau Won’t Statistically Adjust Its Basic 2000 Head Count

WASHINGTON —  Census Bureau officials said Wednesday that they will not statistically adjust the 2000 census numbers and instead will proceed with plans to use the door-to-door head count to distribute billions of dollars in federal funds.

They said they could not improve on that basic count by adjusting the numbers, as they had hoped, because a quality-check survey they conducted was flawed.

The decision disappointed Democrats, civil rights groups and big-city mayors, who had hoped the adjusted numbers would raise the total population figure for minorities, who they say were disproportionately missed in the head count. Republicans, who have questioned whether adjusted numbers would be more accurate, praised it.

Acting Census Director William Barron said the decision was made because a summer household survey failed to find that the census had counted a significant number of people twice.

The decision means adjusted figures will not be used to fund Medicaid and other social service programs. In addition, government measures of poverty and unemployment, which now are based on adjusted counts, will probably use the basic count in the future.