Kari Quimby, age 12, of DeWitt, Mich., for her question:
WHEN DID THE UNITED STATES CENSUS START?
The world's first modern census was the one completed by the United States in 1790.
The counting process started on August 2, 1790 and took about 18 months. The government wanted to use the count to determine the amount of taxation and congressional representation of the states.
That first census wasn't too well received. Although fewer than 4 million people lived in the country at that time, the people were scattered throughout a largely undeveloped land.
Enumerators on horseback had to ride through lots of wide open spaces to make their counts. And they found that many people refused to cooperate because they did not know why the government needed information about them.
The U. S. Constitution provided for a count of the population "within every subsequent term of ten years." The Bureau of the Census now gathers population data in years ending withg zero, such as 1980.
The Bureau of the Census was established in 1902 as part of the Department of Interior. It became part of the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903 and of the Department of Commerce in 1913.
The United Nations encourages all nations to conduct complete, periodic censuses. The U.N. actually publishes manuals of recommended census procedures in an effort to establish standard censuses so that accurate world statistics can be tabulated.
The number of countries with censuses has increased continually since the 1850s. From 1855 to 1864, 51 nations or countries with about 17 percent of the world population, conducted censuses. From 1955 to 1963, 192 nations with about 67 percent of the total population took censuses.
Today, about 90 percent of all nations conduct some kind of regular population count.
The Census Bureau conducts censuses of business, construction, manufacturers, mineral industries and transportation every five years. These surveys collect data on the output and resources of the various industries.
The Census of Governments collects information on all units of local government every five years. This information includes the form of government organizations, the number of people employed and the financial arrangements of the government. The first Census of Governments was conducted in 1850.
The Census of Agriculture, started in 1840, is also conducted every five years.
In Canada, the Census Division of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics conducts censuses of agriculture, housing and population every five years in years ending with 1 and 6, such as 1976 and 1981.