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Queens participation lags nation in Census 2000

By Michelle Han

Queens households lagged behind the nationwide participation rate in the 2000 census by 13 percent in the final tally before census workers were dispatched to visit homes that had not responded, figures released by the Census Bureau last week show.

The borough also missed the 63 percent response target rate for Queens by 11 percent, leaving much work for enumerators who were slated to begin knocking on thousands of doors Thursday to try to get information from those who failed to return a form.

Some 65 percent of American households returned their census forms as of last Wednesday, census officials announced at a Manhattan news conference April 19. The goal for the nation was 70 percent, but census officials touted the 65 percent response rate because it matched the 1990 participation rate in the decennial count of U.S. residents.