‘Transformative’: US Census to add Middle Eastern, North African category

People walk past posters encouraging participation in the 2020 Census in Seattle, Washington, the United States [Ted S Warren/The Associated Press]

Advocates for Arab Americans routinely use one word to describe how diverse communities from the Middle East and North Africa have for decades been categorised in the United States Census: “Invisible”.

But that is set to change when the next federal census is conducted in 2030, with the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announcing Thursday new federal standards on collecting race and ethnicity data. For the first time, Americans who trace their ancestral roots to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will have their own category on the decennial survey.