- The nation’s estimated 3.7 million Arab Americans have been unable to self-identify as such on the census and other official forms.
- Among the challenges posed by the situation is a lack of health data that, for instance, cloaked the COVID pandemic’s effects on the community despite its numerous risk factors.
- Earlier this year, the U.S. Agency for International Development became the first federal agency to put a Middle Eastern/North African category into practice, including it as part of its internal employee survey.
Many Middle Eastern and North African Americans are hopeful they will finally be recognized by the federal government, including in the U.S. Census, after years of their community largely being ignored in official data.
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget is working to overhaul how agencies collect data about Americans, a move that many say could result in a new category for people of Middle Eastern or North African background. Arab Americans have long fought to persuade government officials to adopt the racial category, referred to as MENA, as part of standard practice.
