History of Statistical Policy Directive No. 15

The goals of Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (SPD 15) are to ensure the comparability of race and ethnicity across Federal datasets and to maximize the quality of that data by ensuring that the format, language, and procedures for collecting the data are consistent and based on rigorous evidence. To achieve these goals, SPD 15 provides a minimum set of categories that all Federal agencies must use if they intend to collect information on race and ethnicity, regardless of the collection mechanism (e.g., Federal surveys versus program benefit applications).

Since the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) initially developed these data standards in 1977, SPD 15 has been revised two times, resulting in the 1997 Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity and, most recently, the 2024 Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.