@whitenoise I see. Yes, very limited, but still useful. When I say useful, generally I hate that we ask what people “are” in my country, but the stats are used to see patterns I guess, and used as a marketing tool for business. Many of my friends the families have moved a couple times in the last 1 and 2 generations, so their ethnicity is tricky, and is not really captured well by government questions.
Another time these questions seem useful is for health related issues, as some groups are more likely to get certain diseases. But, even there I question needing to know, because people are really diagnosed on symptoms and tests, not their ethnicity.