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RACENEW
Self-reported Race (Post-1997 OMB standards)
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Codes and Frequencies



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Description

RACENEW provides information on self-reported race of sample adults and sample children (and prior to 2019, all persons), using the October 30, 1997 revision of Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting.

Comparability

Categories under 1997 Directive

According to the October 30, 1997 Federal Register notice, "the revision of Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting" established "five minimum categories for data on race: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and White."

People who self-reported their racial background as belonging to the "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander" group were, for reasons of confidentiality due to the relatively small numbers, included in the 1999-2002 "Other Race" category, the 2003-2018 "Race Group Not Releasable" category, and the 2019 forward "Other Race and Multiple Race" category.

Treatment of Other Race and Multiple Race

Between 2003 and 2018, the "Other Race" category was dropped from the NHIS public use files.

 

In that year, a new category, "Primary Race Not Releasable," was added, to preserve the privacy of people whose racial category had very few members in the survey (e.g., Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Island people). As noted on the National Center for Health Statistic's Race and Hispanic Origin Information home page, beginning "with the 2003 NHIS, 'Other race' is no longer coded as a separate race response. Any responses that fall into this category are treated as missing, and the race is imputed if this is the only race response. In cases where 'Other race' is mentioned along with one or more OMB race groups, the 'Other race' response is dropped and the OMB race group information is retained."

In 2019 forward, the "Primary Race Not Releasable" and "Multiple Race" categories were combined into a single "Other Single and Multiple Races" category, with one exception. If American Indian/Alaska Native was mentioned alongside any other race or races, responses were coded into "AIAN and any other group."

Treatment of Unknown Race

The 1997-1999 subdivision of "Unknown" into "Unknown-Refused," "Unknown-Not Ascertained," and "Unknown-Don't Know," was dropped between 2000 and 2018.

 

The reason for this, as noted in the National Center for Health Statistic's Race and Hispanic Origin Information home page, is as follows:

(In) the 2000 survey year, the NHIS began implementation of hot-deck imputation of race and Hispanic origin, in order to improve the overall quality of the data. Similar to the editing procedures, the imputation procedures are based on methods developed by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Race and Hispanic origin are first imputed from within a household, if available. If not, race and Hispanic origin are imputed between households which are matched by Hispanic origin within a small geographic area.

Thus, from 2000-2018, all persons in IPUMS NHIS are a member of some racial category.

In 2019-forward, imputation of race was discontinued and the "Unknown-Refused," "Unknown-Not Ascertained," and "Unknown-Don't Know" categories were re-introduced.

Related Variables and Other Sources 

There are several other variables researchers may find useful in conjunction with RACENEW. RACEA provides information on interviewer-reported or self-reported main racial background from 1969-2018, using the pre-1997 revised Office of Management and Budget standards. RACEID reports the interviewer-identified race of all persons from 1969-1979. RACESR provides information on self-reported racial categories from 1978-2018, using the pre-1997 revised Office of Management and Budget standards. RACEBR is a bridge race variable linking racial categories using pre-1997 revised Office of Management and Budget standards with racial categories for 1999-2018, using post-1997 Office of Management and Budget standards.

Researchers might also want to utilize the variables relating to Hispanic ethnicity (HISPETH) or global region of birth (available from 2000 forward in REGIONBR) in their analyses.

More information about race and Hispanic ethnicity variables appearing in the NHIS can be found on the National Center for Health Statistic's Race and Hispanic Origin Information home page.

The NHIS questionnaire was substantially redesigned in 2019 to introduce a different data collection structure and new content. For more information on changes in terminology, universes, and data collection methods beginning in 2019, please see the user note.

Universe

  • 1999-2018: All persons.
  • 2019-2023: Sample adults age 18+ and sample children age 0-17.

Availability

  • 1999-2023

Weights