Will the 2020 Census be the next Healthcare.gov ?

[Tender Branson]

There was one major problem with the 2010 Census: It was the most expensive ever conducted.

In an era of shrinking government budgets, the constitutionally-mandated decennial survey of the American populace cost nearly $100 per household, more than double the price tag of what it cost in 1990. As a result, it’s no surprise that Census Bureau officials are turning to new technologies as a way to save money.

“Congress has instructed us to find a way to do things for no more money,” senior census official Jim Dinwiddie told the Washington Post last year. “So we’re looking at what things we might do that have a dramatic impact on costs.”

The Bureau plans to increase efficiency and reduce expenses through a set of new initiatives that may include having respondents fill out surveys over the Internet and letting census takers collect information on their personal mobile devices. According a recent report by the watchdog Government Accountability Office (GAO), however, the Bureau’s efforts are already running well behind schedule.

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http://www.dailydot.com/politics/2020-census-online

[Tender Branson]

13 Bio. € for a Census ?

WTF ?

Austria's register based Census cost 7 Mio. € in 2011, down from the 70 Mio. € in 2001 - when they still used paper forms.

[MurrayBannerman]

There's no good reason to sink massive costs into paper anymore.

[Tender Branson]

Historical costs of US Censuses:

1950:        92 Mio. $
1960:      128 Mio. $
1970:      248 Mio. $
1980:   1.079 Mio. $
1990:   2.493 Mio. $
2000:   4.500 Mio. $
2010: 13.000 Mio. $
2020: .................. ?

http://www.genealogybranches.com/censuscosts.html

[Tender Branson]

If the healthcare.gov website already crashed when a few 100.000 people were filling out healthcare applications, what do you think will happen when 330 Mio. Americans try to fill out a Census form over the Internet in the 2020 Census period ?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

As long as it's better than the 2000 census. Back in 2000, I wasn't even counted. I begged, I pleaded, I implored for them to send me the census form, and I never got it.

[Joe Republic]

13 Bio. € for a Census ?

WTF ?

Austria's register based Census cost 7 Mio. € in 2011, down from the 70 Mio. € in 2001 - when they still used paper forms.

Congratulations.  Newsflash: Austria has less than 3% the population of the US, in an area less than 1% the size.

[retromike22]

13 Bio. € for a Census ?

WTF ?

Austria's register based Census cost 7 Mio. € in 2011, down from the 70 Mio. € in 2001 - when they still used paper forms.

Congratulations.  Newsflash: Austria has less than 3% the population of the US.

That's just what I was going to say. A better comparison would be with Indonesia or Brazil.

[Tender Branson]

13 Bio. € for a Census ?

WTF ?

Austria's register based Census cost 7 Mio. € in 2011, down from the 70 Mio. € in 2001 - when they still used paper forms.

Congratulations.  Newsflash: Austria has less than 3% the population of the US.

That's just what I was going to say. A better comparison would be with Indonesia or Brazil.

The size of the population and the area of the country does not really matter here.

The will to reform the current dysfunctional system matters. Read more about my thoughts about the creation of a Central Population Residence Registry System in the US here and how it would improve the Census-taking and limit costs, because a register-based Census could be held instead of using the costly paper ballots:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=169154.msg3619975#msg3619975

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

The size of the population and the area of the country does not really matter here.

It really does, because American census takers are required to hunt down, in person, those who do not respond to the census. That's not easy when you've got areas like Alaska, large swaths of mountains, desert, unincorporated land and tribal lands. Finding and counting 600K+ homeless people isn't easy, either.

If having a census website improves the 72% return rate we had last go around, I'm all for it. There's plenty of time to design a site and get it right, especially considering how little data is collected from most people.