Why some countries measure race, and others refuse

Author

In brief

Official statistics on race and ethnicity are required by law in some countries and explicitly prohibited in others, and both positions are defended in the name of social justice and human rights. Tracing racial classification from Linnaeus and Blumenbach through the rise and fall of scientific racism, this column argues that the disagreement is not only political but statistical: official measurement often illuminates injustice, while mismeasurement reinforces it.

“Are countries that refuse to collect race and ethnicity data willfully ignorant? Or are countries that do collect them mistaking an ill-defined classification system for scientific fact?”

What the article covers

• The 1840 US Census, its erroneous tabulation of race and insanity, and what happened when the errors were pointed out.
• Lewontin's 1972 analysis of variance, Edwards's rejoinder, and what each does and does not settle.
• France's strategy of equality through invisibility, and why a movement now calls for official measurement.
• Deming's warning about the costly myth that what cannot be measured cannot be managed.

How to cite

Jonathan Auerbach. “Why some countries measure race, and others refuse.” vISIon: The ISI Magazine Vol. 1 No. 2, June 2026, pp. 23–25.