KIDBIRTHYR_ALL (B2_x) variables are 4-digit variables.

9999 = NIU (not in universe)

Description

KIDBIRTHYR_ALL (B2_x) reports the child's year of birth, according to the Gregorian calendar.

KIDBIRTHYR_ALL consists of a set of twenty separate variables, covering the most recent birth (KIDBIRTHYR_01) up to the twentieth-most-recent birth (KIDBIRTHYR_20) for a female respondent of childbearing age. If KIDBIRTHYR_ALL is included in a data extract, all these separate variables are included in a researcher's data file.

Information for this variable was collected on all births for a woman, up to a maximum of twenty births. In many cases, data were hypothetically collected on up to twenty births, but no women in the survey had so many births (e.g., no woman had 19 or 20 births). If, for example, no woman in a survey had 20 births and only blank values were included in the original DHS file, then KIDBIRTHYR_20 would not be available for that survey in IPUMS-DHS.

Comparability

Apart from universe differences, KIDBIRTHYR_ALL (B2_x) is largely comparable across samples. For all samples, interviewers first asked, "In what month and year was (NAME) born?" In some samples, if no exact response was given, a follow-up probe asked about the date of the child's birthday and/or the question "In what season was he/she born?"

Some countries use other calendars. The following variables report the child's year of birth according to country-specific calendars:

• Afghanistan uses the Solar Hijri calendar: KIDBIRTHYR_AF_ALL
• Ethiopia uses the Ethiopian calendar: KIDBIRTHYR_ET_ALL

KIDBIRTHYR_ALL (B2_x) is included in every phase of the standard DHS questionnaire.

Universe