Five topics will be eliminated from Census 2000, making the short-form questionnaire the shortest since 1820. (See LASN February 1997, "Stand Up and Be Counted!")

Census 2000 will produce planning data from every respondent on seven subjects-- one on housing and six on population-- included in the "short form." One in six households will receive the long form, which will cover an additional 27 subjects, one fewer than in 1990.

All census subjects have strong defenders among data users, public and private, and some, particularly in the housing industry, may press for restoration of subjects they hold dear. But the Census Bureau "has to strike a very difficult balance between data needs of the nation and the concerns raised by Congress on the length of the questionnaire and its effect on census cost and participation," explains a spokesperson for Census 2000 Initiative, a consortium of census user groups.