Diversity in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2021

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The United States Department of Health and Human Services, also known as the HHS for short, is tasked with providing adequate health care and social services for Americans. They are responsible for overseeing public health and ensuring that advances in medical sciences are applied to the health care provided in the country. In this article we will explore the demographic makeup of this department composed of thirty-one members.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Gender composition chart

Contrary to most United States Departments there’s a majority are female with eighteen members and a little less than half are male with thirteen members.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services race composition chart

Although gender wise the departments leadership is diverse, we see that the racial makeup does not match. Eighteen leaders are White making up the majority. Less than half of the leaders are Black or African American with six leaders, Asian with only four leaders, only two Hispanic leaders and one Native American leader.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services race composition chart

Eighteen leaders are white and thirteen leaders are all other American racial groups. When all other American racial groups are combined there are still five members short of making up half of all leaders.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Gender by race chart

When race is divided by gender we see that there are more females than males representing every racial group besides Asian and Hispanic which have half of leaders from each gender.

With public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally affecting all parts of health in the country, it is important that their leadership is diverse in order to meet the needs of the country.

See the leadership analytics

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2021. “About HHS”. (https://www.hhs.gov/about/index.html)

Karen Britt

A native New Yorker Karen is a graduate student at NYU obtaining her Masters Degree in Applied Statistics for Social Science Research. Her goal is to use statistics and data to make the world a more equal and balanced place. On her free time she enjoys baking and trying new cuisines.

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