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Ethnic and Racial Definitions
The following are the ethnic and racial definitions for the minimum standard categories (1997 OMB Directive 15).

Ethnic Categories:

  • Hispanic or Latino: A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. The term "Spanish origin" can also be used in addition to "Hispanic or Latino."

  • Not Hispanic or Latino

Racial Categories:

  • American Indian or Alaska Native: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North, Central, or South America, and who maintains tribal affiliations or community attachment.

  • Asian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. (Note: Individuals from the Philippine Islands have been recorded as Pacific Islanders in previous data collection strategies.)

  • Black or African American: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as "Haitian" or "Negro" can be used in addition to "Black or African American."

  • Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.

  • White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

Quoted from NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-01-053.