Americans' Ethinc Ancestry?

Question

According to US census, there are 50,764,352 German Americans, 35,975,855 Irish Americans, 28,339,354

Mexican Americans, 28,290,369 English Americans, 17,829,184 Italian Americans and etc.

However, we Americans are so mixed; I myself am an American of German, Irish and Polish descent.

My question is, how did they come up with those specific numbers?

One more question: Am I counted as a German American, an Irish American or a Polish American in the stats?

Answer 1

"according to US census"...

your answer is right in your own question.

How YOU are counted, depends on what was put on the census (or.. if you were actually counted).

Answer 2

These days, census forms are mailed out to each household.  Somebody in the household completes the form, answering specific questions about each family member, and mails it back to the census bureau.  The census bureau then tallies up the answers.  Since it would be impossible to check on the accuracy of every answer, we have to assume that everyone who filled out their form answered the questions correctly, or to the best of their knowledge.

One of the questions on the 2000 census was, "What is this person's ancestry or ethnic origin?"  Some people could answer that question easily; if their family had recently come here from Italy, they could put "Italian" with confidence.  But those of us with mixed ancestry had to make a decision. So most people listed the ethnicity they identified with the most.  There was actually room on the form to list more than one, and many people did so.  Of course, some people have no idea where their ancestors came from, so they had to go with their best guess.  And some folks made it easy on themselves and just put "American."

When the 2010 census comes around, you'll have the chance to list yourself however you choose.  If there's room, you can list German, Irish AND Polish... and each one will be added to the tally.

But since the data gathered from the census is based on each person's knowledge or "choice" of ancestry, it's impossible to know whether the percentages we wind up with are completely accurate or not.

Another question on the 2000 census was, "Is this person Spanish/Hispanic/Latino?", and the choices were "Yes" or "No."  Well, my husband is hispanic, and I'm not, so that part was easy.  But what about our kids?  They aren't really hispanic... but they aren't NOT hispanic, either!  So what should I put?  It took me forever to decide (and now I can't remember what I put).   But neither answer was correct, because there wasn't an option of putting both.

Answer 3

Statistics such as this come from a variety of sources.  They include historical immigration records, statistical study of population growth, census information, and the demographic information that is on government forms.

For question #2, you're probably included in all of the above.  It's a Venn diagram thing.  The groups are not mutually exclusive and therefore, simple addition of the percentages would not equal 100%.

Answer 4

I remember when being asked this question by the census taker my mouth fell open and I was blank.  You see my father was mostly Irish, orange and green.  However, there was a marriage in Ireland that brought in Spanish, Italian and Austrian mostly.  

My maternal grandmother's ancestry was colonial American. She was born in 1872.  She was English, Alsatian German, French Huguenot, Scottish and Scotch Irish.  My paternal grandfather was Polish, Polish Jew, German, English and Native American.

So, he looked at me and just said, "American?"  I agreed.