Why is hispanic a ethnicity

To address these challenges in preparation for the decennial census, the Census Bureau is considering asking everyone living in the U. In other words, the form would ask people to identify their race or origin and would include Hispanic along with black, white, Asian, American Indian and Pacific Islander. As the total number U. Hispanics has rapidly increased in the last few decades, the Census Bureau has been under pressure to accurately measure racial identity of Hispanics. For example, race and Hispanic origin are used in the enforcement of Equal Employment Opportunity and other anti-discrimination laws.

Fresh data delivered Saturday mornings. It organizes the public into nine distinct groups, based on an analysis of their attitudes and values. Even in a polarized era, the survey reveals deep divisions in both partisan coalitions.

Use this tool to compare the groups on some key topics and their demographics. Pew Research Center now uses as the last birth year for Millennials in our work. There are no Latinos in Latin America. You read that right. Because Latino and Hispanic are U. Brazilians are Latino but not Hispanic. Spaniards are Hispanic but not Latino. Why is it important to be clear about our distinctions between race and ethnicity? Whenever we—Jorge a native Mexican and Rob a third generation native Mexican American —fill out a survey, we face the inevitable paired set of questions asking about our ethnicity and race.

What should we pick? Our struggle is shared, despite having different generational profiles. We are asked to clearly distinguish ourselves through complex concepts such as race, ancestry, geographic origin, and language among options defined by researchers who view life, race, and ethnicity through their own ethnocentric lenses, which are not the same for everyone.

As our Latinx population increases , we must reconsider how we collect survey data not only from Latinxs but also from the many others in our richly diverse US society, including the growing population of people of mixed race and ethnicity. This is especially important for the US Census Bureau and for the Office of Management and Budget OMB , the federal entity that mandates the racial and ethnic categories used in all federal survey and statistical reporting.

Getting these racial and ethnic categories right is critical because they guide policy and affect communities through federal funding allocations, congressional redistricting, state and local budgets, and data-driven business and research decisions. The term Hispanic dates back to the s and refers to Spanish cultural heritage, mostly predicated through language.

The terms Latino and Latina, popularized in the early 20th century , refer to ancestry in Latin American countries. Unlike Hispanic , the term Latino eschews Spanish ancestry, which could exclude people of Brazilian or Haitian origin.