Racial/Ethnic Data Used in the Report
Racial/ethnic data reported to Abt Associates, Inc. for PC2004 was by 88 WIC State agencies. The data are based on reports submitted by 2,211 WIC local agencies.
The state-maintained automated system of racial/ethnicity from the PC 2004 data set contained WIC enrollment information from five (5) categories, which made up 99.0 percent of enrollment. The 5 categories were—American Indian/Alaska Native; Asian/Pacific; Black; Hispanic; and White. The remaining 1.0 percent was found in the No Race Reported category. Caution should be used in comparing results across groups; missing data must always be considered in gauging differences between, among, or across groups or categories of WIC participants.
Please note that WIC enrollment differs from WIC participation. WIC enrollment is defined as individuals certified to receive WIC benefits for specific time periods, including individuals who did not claim or use the food instruments issued during those time periods. WIC participation is defined as the number of individuals who picked up food instruments during the designated time periods.
Highlights
Enrollment for the WIC Program in April 2004 totaled 8,586,487*. Of this total, Hispanics accounted for 3,362,959 (39%), Whites 2,987,147 (35%), Blacks 1,715,294 (20%), Asian/Pacific Islanders 261,342 (3%), American Indian/Alaska Native 133,191 (2%). The No Race Reported category accounted for the remaining 89,564 (1%) of enrollment. Total Women enrolled in the WIC Program were 2,103,980 (24.5%), Infants 2,203,884 (25.7%), and Children 4,278,623 or (49.8%). A summary difference table (Table III) display analyses for years 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004 of enrollment data.
Racial/Ethnic Participant Data | ||
|---|---|---|
| Table I - Racial/Ethnic Participant Enrollment by Region/State | (Excel) | (PDF) |
| Table II - Composition of Racial/Ethnic Participant Enrollment -- Grouped by Women, Infants and Children by Region and State | (Excel) | (PDF) |
| Table III - (Summary) -- Difference/Percent Change in WIC Participant Enrollment -- Grouped by Racial/Ethnic Categories - Fiscal Year 1996 to 2004 | (Excel) | (PDF) |
| Pie Chart of Racial/Ethnic Participant Enrollment Grouped by Categories | (PDF) | |
* These data represent nearly complete counts of all Women, Infants, and Children participating in the WIC Program as of April 2004. In a small number of cases, analytic weights continue to be needed to achieve accurate representation of each State and local agency caseload. The use of weights may result in individual counts being reported with decimal places. The report only uses whole numbers of individuals. Minor differences (3-6 individuals, depending on the level of aggregation) between counts reported here and counts reported in the WIC Participant and Program Characteristics 2004 are due to rounding. For a more complete discussion of the WIC reporting system and analytic methodology, please see the above report, which is available at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic-participant-and-program-characteristics-2004