HONOLULU — U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka is urging Hawaii residents to return their Census 2010 forms by Friday's deadline.

The island Democrat said Thursday in a Washington news release that the Census is the federal government's way of determining how many people live in each part of the country.

He says everyone needs to be counted because it determines how much funding is received for education, transportation and other programs.

Akaka is quoting the U.S. Census Bureau as saying 61 percent of Hawaii's forms had been returned as of Tuesday.

Maui County had the lowest return rate with only 47 percent of the forms sent back. Honolulu had the highest with 67 percent returned. Kauai and Hawaii counties had 50 percent and 51 percent, respectively.