The Arab American Institute considers 22 countries to consist of Arabs, spanning Africa and Asia, meaning Arab Americans can fall into several categories provided in the survey. This creates an odd decision during the census for Arab Americans. This question would discourage 30% of Arab Americans from taking the survey, a study by the American-Arab Anti-Defamation Committee found. The Arab American Institute and other groups have worked on getting an Arab category introduced in the census for decades but have always been met with opposition. Test results found that the vast majority of Arab Americans supported the issue and would mark the new option on the census.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 13, 2019 17:03 UTC