Census

Definition

A census is an official count of all the people living in a country or area, usually done by the government.

Examples

• The government conducts a census every ten years to find out how many people live in each state.
• The school did a quick census to count how many students would be attending the field trip.

Why it Matters for Civic Life

The census helps the government understand how many people live in different places. This information is used to decide where to build new schools, hospitals, roads, and how many representatives each state gets in Congress.

Fun Fact!

The first U.S. census was taken in 1790, and it counted about 3.9 million people living in the country!