Counting Americans Overseas as Part of the Decennial Census Would Not Be Cost-Effective

By General Accounting Office

Book Id: WPLBN0000039676
Format Type: PDF eBook
File Size: 0.7 MB
Reproduction Date: 2005

Title:	Counting Americans Overseas as Part of the Decennial Census Would Not Be Cost-Effective
Author:	General Accounting Office
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Government publications, Accountability in government, United States. General Accounting Office
Collections:	Government Library Collection, Government Accountability Integrity Reliability Office Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	United States General Accounting Office (Gao)


Citation APA MLA Chicago Office, G. A. (n.d.). Counting Americans Overseas as Part of the Decennial Census Would Not Be Cost-Effective. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.us/

Description
Government Accountability Integrity Reliability Office Collection

Excerpt
Excerpt: The Bureau generally implemented the overseas census test on schedule and consistent with its research design. Still, participation was poor, with just 5 90 questionnaires returned from the three test sites-France, Kuwait, and Mexico. Moreover, because of the low response levels, obtaining those questionnaires proved to be quite expensive-around $1,450 per response, which is far costlier on a unit basis than the 2000 Census. Although the two are not directly comparable because the 2000 Census included operations not used in the overseas test, the 2000 Census cost around $56 per household. Further, boosting the response rate globally might not be practical. On the domestic front, during the 2000 Census, the Bureau spent $374 million on a months-long publicity campaign that consisted of television and other advertising that helped yield a 72-percent return rate. Replicating this level of effort on a worldwide basis would be difficult, and still would not produce a complete count. Ensuring a smooth overseas count could also stretch the Bureau?s resources. For example, at each test site the Bureau encountered various challenges that needed to be resolved such as French privacy laws. Moreover, managing a complex operation from thousands of miles away also proved difficult.