Why Not Counting Our Children Under 5 May Impact Our Future Generations

Did you know that nearly 1 million children (4.6% of children under the age of 5) were not counted in the 2010 Census, this according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Surprisingly they represent one of the largest groups of undercounted persons in the country.

Population counts for children under five will help lawmakers determine how to spend billions of dollars over the next ten years for programs such as nutrition assistance, Head Start, special education, foster care, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and housing assistance for children and their families.

Children are missed for several reasons. Adults may not return the census questionnaire. Children are simply left off or not counted by the head of household. This occurs most often in something called “complex households” which may include “multigenerational family members, unrelated families living together because of things like high housing costs and blended or foster families.”

It is more likely that minority or immigrant households fall into the “complex household” category where young children go undercounted. In the 2010 Census approximately “40% of all such young children fell under the complex household category per the Census Bureau.

Therefore, it will be important to be sure that we educate these communities on the importance of counting our young children. Not doing so may have long lasting effects on our children by depriving them of the programs that provide that foundational support in their formative years.

Source: US Census Bureau