Next U.S. census will have new boxes for 'Middle Eastern or North African,' 'Latino'

The Biden administration has approved proposals for the U.S. census and federal surveys to change how Latinos are asked about their race and ethnicity and to add a checkbox for "Middle Eastern or North African." (RLT_Images/Getty Images)

On the next U.S. census and future federal government forms, the list of checkboxes for a person's race and ethnicity is officially getting longer.

The Biden administration has approved proposals for a new response option for "Middle Eastern or North African" and a "Hispanic or Latino" box that appears under a reformatted question that asks: "What is your race and/or ethnicity?"