MCH data analysis for planning and programming rely upon knowledge of the size and composition of a population and the census provides us with a valuable source of population-based data. The census provides data on the population, socioeconomic, and housing characteristics of the entire country and affects our lives in three major areas: political power, federal and state program funding distribution, and planning activities.

In the United States, the census of population has been conducted every ten years, beginning in 1790. Originally, this enumeration was the result of a political compromise arising from the conflict between sparsely populated states and heavily populated states. The former wanted equal representation in the national legislature, while the latter believed that their larger populations justified greater power. The compromise was the establishment of our bicameral legislature in which the states are equally represented in the Senate and are represented according to population size in the House of Representatives. Since the House seats are apportioned according to the size of the population, it is necessary for a periodic inventory of the population. This periodic inventory required by the United States Constitution. Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3 (Modified by the Fourteenth Amendment) calls for the enumeration of the country's population every ten years. The results of this Constitutionally required enumeration determine not only the apportionment of House seats, but influence how the boundaries for Congressional and state legislative districts are drawn. Additionally, at the county and municipal levels, election districts must be drawn using census statistics to ensure equal representation.

Census data are used by the Federal and state governments to allocate billions of dollars every year to the local governments for a wide variety of public purposes, including the allocation of State MCH Block Grant funds. Since public health initiatives are greatly affected by Federal and state funding, an understanding of how census data is collected, as well as the uses and limitations of the data, is important.

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