Lebanese, Iranian and Egyptian Populations Represented Nearly Half of the MENA Population in 2020 Census

Lebanese, Iranian and Egyptian populations represented nearly half of the 3.5 million who reported Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) descent in the 2020 Census — the first census to specifically solicit MENA responses.

The Census Bureau’s classification for the MENA population is geographically based and includes Arabic-speaking groups, such as Egyptian and Jordanian, and non-Arabic speaking groups, such as Iranian and Israeli. It also includes ethnic and transnational groups from the region, such as Assyrian and Kurdish.

In response to public feedback and testing over the last decade, the U.S. Census Bureau added a write-in response area to the White racial category, including German, Irish, English, Italian, Lebanese and Egyptian as examples.

The MENA examples were included with the White category following the standards [PDF <1.0 MB] set by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in 1997, which classify MENA responses as part of the White racial category.

The Census Bureau’s classification for the MENA population is geographically based and includes Arabic-speaking groups, such as Egyptian and Jordanian, and non-Arabic speaking groups, such as Iranian and Israeli. It also includes ethnic and transnational groups from the region, such as Assyrian and Kurdish.

Here we present data on detailed responses to the race question in two forms: “alone” and “alone or in any combination.”

The “alone” count represents the minimum number of people who identified as a detailed group. It includes those who reported only one response, such as Egyptian.

The “alone or in any combination” count represents the maximum number of people who identified as a detailed group. It includes those who reported only one response, such as Egyptian, and those who reported multiple responses, such as Egyptian and Moroccan or Egyptian and Black or African American.

These definitions are important to frame the discussion of racial and ethnic composition and help us understand our country’s changing demographics as it becomes much more multiracial.

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