The date and program of the first interracial kiss on television is a much debated topic. In many parts of the world social stigma and legislation (such as anti-miscegenation laws) have hindered relations between people from different groups (races). The first kiss on television has been discussed in the context of this social stigma. As there is no agreement on what constitutes a race there is also no general agreement on when the first interracial kiss occurred and a number of claims exist.
Some states, such as the United States and the United Kingdom have questions related to ethnicity and race in their censuses (covered in the articles race and ethnicity in the United States census and classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom). In both cases the census is based on self-definition. The available options differ substantially between the countries and have developed over time (i.e. two people might be considered to be of the same race in one census, but not in another).