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Dr. Rebecca Tippett, director of Carolina Demography at the Carolina Population Center, helps leaders across the state make sense of data that determines everything from our state’s seats in the House of Representatives to the amount of federal funding received for our healthcare system, our schools, public roads and more. Where does this data come from? The census.
“It’s literally the most democratic and inclusive thing that we do as a country,” said Tippett. “And it’s vitally important to the function of both our representative democracy, as well as federal state and local government, and then through everything else into research and business.”
This year, due to extenuating circumstances, the actual due date for census data is in flux. According to Tippet, census takers are planning for a September 30 deadline, but hoping for the original extended deadline of October 31. With so much on the line in 2020, the census is more crucial this year than ever before.
“[The census is] used to allocate over one and a half trillion dollars of federal funding annually, which North Carolina gets about $44 billion a year,” said Tippett. “From there, it’s used to allocate the fair distribution of state and local money — and it’s used in everything from planning for disaster responses like hurricanes and the global pandemic that’s going on to understanding why you should open a new business.”
The census does more than determine funding, however. The collected data provides a useful metric for understanding shifts in populations and demographic — as well as identifying trends that can be useful for deciding on public policy or planning developments.
“The Carolina Population Center is over 50 years old and has a long and really great history of doing cutting-edge population research at the national and the global level,” said Tippett. “… I joined UNC on July 1st, 2013, to really start the unit and try to develop it into something that could help leaders and citizens around the state better understand North Carolina and get their questions about population change answered.”
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