Description

KIDDESIRE (V605) is a constructed variable that distinguishes between women who want another child soon (in less than two years), who want another child later (in 2+ years), who want no more children, and who aren't sure (about timing or about the number of children desired).

When children are chosen as the unit of analysis, the woman respondent indicates the mother of the child.

The construction of this variable has changed across phases of the DHS and varies across countries (only sometimes distinguishing between groups of women not at risk of pregnancy due to sterilization, infecundity, or virginity). To maximize comparability across samples, IPUMS-DHS employs composite coding. Women who want more children share a common first digit of 1, women not at risk of pregnancy share a common first digit of 6, and detail present in only some samples is specified in the code's second digit.

Comparability — Index

Comparability

Along with universe differences, some samples have country-specific responses and the categories for sterilized women (Phase 2) and women who never had sex (Phase 3) were included in the survey.

Changes over time in KIDDESIRE (V605) to the standard questionnaire and for specific countries, are noted below.

Comparability - Standard DHS

Questions relating to KIDDESIRE (V605) were included in the standard DHS questionnaires for Phase 1 forward. For Phase 2 forward, sterilized women and women who wanted no more children were recorded in separate categories. For Phase 3 forward, women who had never had sexual intercourse were not asked the questions relating to desire for future children but are coded as "63" in the IPUMS-DHS, rather than "not in universe."

Universe