The  U.S. government’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has announced a major change to the U.S. census for the year 2030, which will include new categories of race and ethnicity for Hispanics as well as people of Middle Eastern and North African ancestry. This decision represents a significant shift in the way the U.S. government monitors the country's demographics.

The last modification to the categories of race and ethnicity occurred 27 years ago, and this update is a response to recurring criticism that important ethnic groups have been excluded from the demographic collection. The revisions aim to combine the previously separate questions about race and ethnicity into a single question and include a new category specific to people from the Middle East and North Africa.

According to The Hill, Chief Statistician Karin Orvis emphasized that these changes will result in more useful, accurate, and up-to-date demographic data on race and ethnicity, making it easier to understand America's diversity and assess how well federal programs serve that diversity.

The new demographic categories for the 2030 census will include American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Middle Eastern or North African, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and white. Previously, most people of Middle Eastern origin were listed as "white," and Hispanics were considered a separate ethnicity from race, while people of North African descent did not have a clear individual category.