US Overhauls Race Data to Add Middle Eastern, Hispanic Categories

People of Middle Eastern and North African descent can place themselves in a distinct group for the first time in government data collection, the biggest change in how the US measures the races of its residents in at least a quarter century.

The moves will also change how Hispanic people are counted in the US so that they are a choice among Black, White and other races, rather than a separate ethnic category, according to a memo released Thursday by the Biden administration.