As the U.S. Census Bureau gets public feedback about how it should tally people into new race and ethnicity groups, the agency has released new research reflecting how U.S. residents from different backgrounds regard their racial and ethnic identities.
Earlier this year, the U.S. government changed how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity to more accurately count residents who identify as Hispanic and of Middle Eastern and North African heritage. Before this year, the categories hadn't been changed in 27 years.
Under the revisions, questions about race and ethnicity that previously were asked separately on forms will be combined into a single question. That will give respondents the option to pick multiple categories at the same time, such as “Black,” “American Indian” and “Hispanic.” Research has shown that large numbers of Hispanic people aren’t sure how to answer the race question when that question is asked separately because they understand race and ethnicity to be similar and they often pick “some other race” or do not answer the question.
A Middle Eastern and North African category also was added to the choices available for questions about race and ethnicity. People descended from places such as Lebanon, Iran, Egypt and Syria had been encouraged to identify as white, but now will have the option of identifying themselves in the new group.
Results from the 2020 census, which asked respondents to write in their backgrounds on the form, suggest that more than 3.1 million U.S. residents identify as Middle Eastern and North African, otherwise known as MENA.
New research released this month by the Census Bureau showed that more than 2.4 million people, or around 80%, who wrote that their background was MENA did so under the white category in the question about their race on the 2020 census questionnaire.
Almost 500,000 people, or more than 16%, who wrote that they were MENA identified themselves as “some other race,” and almost 139,000 MENA people, or 4.5%, identified as Asian. Almost 50,000 MENA write-ins, or 1.6%, did so under the Black race category.
Among MENA subgroups, people of Lebanese and Syrian backgrounds had the highest percentages of people identifying their race as white, and people who identified as North African, Berber and Moroccan had the highest rates of marking their race as Black. People with Omani, Emirati and Saudi backgrounds identified at the highest rates as Asian, the report said.
In a separate report also released this month, the Census Bureau said there was a noticeable variation regarding racial identity among different U.S. Hispanic groups in the 2020 census.
“Some other race” and American Indian and Alaska Native responses were most common among people from Central America. White and “some other race” responses were most prevalent among residents from South America. Black alone responses and “Black and some other race” answers were most common among people from the Caribbean, the report said.
There also was variation by region and state.
The Northeast and West — particularly California, Maryland and New York — had the highest share of Hispanic respondents reporting that they were “some other race” alone. Identifying as white alone or “white and some other race” was most common among Hispanic respondents in the South. The Northeast had the highest share of Hispanic residents reporting as Black alone or “Black and some other race." The Midwest had the largest rate of Hispanic residents identifying as American Indian and Alaska Native, particularly in South Dakota, the report said.
The new race and ethnicity categories will be used by the Census Bureau starting in the 2027 American Community Survey — the most comprehensive survey of U.S. life — and the 2030 census, which determines how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets.
The Census Bureau is seeking feedback from the public through mid-February. The statistical agency wants to hear from groups who feel that they are misclassified or if any groups should be added to the list of codes used to tally people by race and ethnicity.
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FILE - People gather in Guadalupe, Ariz., during the celebration of the town's 45th year since it was incorporated, on Feb. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-MIlls, File)
FILE - A billboard highlighting the 2020 Census is seen in Dearborn, Mich., on Thursday, April 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people onboard crashed Wednesday near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, killing 38 people and leaving 29 survivors, a Kazakh official said.
Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbaev disclosed the figures while meeting with Azerbaijani officials, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
The Embraer 190 was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus when it was diverted and attempted an emergency landing 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau, Azerbaijan Airlines said.
Speaking at a news conference, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that it was too soon to speculate on the reasons behind the crash, but said that the weather had forced the plane to change from its planned course.
“The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing,” he said.
Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said that preliminary information showed that the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board.
According to Kazakh officials, those aboard the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstan nationals. Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general’s office previously said that 32 of the 67 people on board had survived the crash, but told journalists that the number wasn’t final.
The Associated Press could not immediately reconcile the difference between the numbers of survivors given by Kazakhstan and Azerbaijani officials.
Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft, lying upside in the grass. The footage corresponded to the plane’s colors and its registration number.
Some of the videos posted on social media showed survivors dragging fellow passengers away from the wreckage.
Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24.com showed the aircraft making what appeared to be a figure eight once nearing the airport in Aktau, its altitude moving up and down substantially over the last minutes of the flight before impacting the ground.
FlightRadar24 separately said in an online post that the aircraft had faced “strong GPS jamming,” which “made the aircraft transmit bad ADS-B data,” referring to the information that allows flight-tracking websites to follow planes in flight. Russia has been blamed in the past for jamming GPS transmissions in the wider region.
Azerbaijan Airlines said it would keep members of the public updated and changed its social media banners to solid black. It also said that it would suspend flights between Baku and Grozny, as well as between Baku and the city of Makhachkala in Russia's North Caucasus, until its investigation into the crash has been concluded.
Azerbaijan’s state news agency, Azertac, said that an official delegation of Azerbaijan’s emergency situations minister, the deputy general prosecutor and the vice president of Azerbaijan Airlines were sent to Aktau to conduct an “on-site investigation."
Aliyev, who was traveling to Russia, returned to Azerbaijan on hearing news of the crash, the president’s press service said. He was due to attend an informal meeting of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a bloc of former Soviet countries founded after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in St. Petersburg.
Aliyev expressed his condolences to the families of the victims in a statement on social media. “It is with deep sadness that I express my condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured,” he wrote.
He also signed a decree declaring Dec. 26 a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Aliyev on the phone and expressed his condolences, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Speaking at the CIS meeting in St. Petersburg, Putin also said that Russia's Emergency Ministry sent a plane with equipment and medical workers to Kazakhstan to assist with the aftermath of the crash.
Kazakhstani, Azerbaijani and Russian authorities said they were investigating the crash. Embraer told The Associated Press in a statement that the company is “ready to assist all relevant authorities."
Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Aida Sultanova in London contributed to this report.
The wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lays on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Azamat Sarsenbayev)
The wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lays on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Azamat Sarsenbayev)
The wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lays on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Azamat Sarsenbayev)
The wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lays on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Azamat Sarsenbayev)
In this photo taken from a video released by the administration of Mangystau region, the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (The Administration of Mangystau Region via AP)
In this photo taken from a video released by the administration of Mangystau region, the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (The Administration of Mangystau Region via AP)
The wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lays on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)
The wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lays on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)
