In Census 2000 the Census Bureau uncovered problems in its counts and its coverage measurement program. In the early parts of the following decade before the 2010 census, a Research and Development Program on coverage improvement and coverage measurement was created to address these problems. These groups laid the foundation for innovations to be made and included in the 2010 census. These innovations include the Coverage Followup program that will use initial census information to lead to improvements in household-level coverage, and changes in the technology and methodology used in the coverage measurement program that will improve its accuracy and help guide improvements in coverage for future censuses.

Paper presented at the 57th Session of the International Statistical Institute (ISI), Durban (South Africa), August 2009.