Digit Preference in the Declaration of the Year of Entry into the United States of Immigrants Born in Mexico

Abstract

This paper explores, measures and corrects digit preference in the declaration of the year of entry into the United States of those born in Mexico who migrated between 1990 and 2010. On the basis of the results of the American Community Survey (ACS), regularity indices are used for the years of declaration ending in 0 and 5, showing that digit preference accounts for up to 46% of the declaration of adjacent years. Through the correction method used, the rectified distribution retains the original pattern of the series and preserves the totals per five-year period and decade as well as the cumulative percentages and annual averages.