Census Trims Questionnaire

Busy Americans who don’t like dealing with government paperwork will get a break in the year 2000 - the Census Bureau short form will have just seven questions, the fewest since 1820.

No longer does Washington want to know your source of water, how many children you ever had, your method of sewage disposal or the last year in which you worked, the Census Bureau said Monday as it sent Congress a list of proposed subjects for the next census.

The short form will have seven questions: name, sex, age, relationship to other people in the house or apartment, race, Latino origin and whether you own or rent the home.

Officials hope forms with fewer questions will get a better response. The response rate by mail was 85 percent in 1970. It hit 70 percent in 1980 and 65 percent in 1990.