KIDBIRTHDAY_NP_ALL (B17_x) variables are 2-digit variables.

99 = NIU (not in universe)

Description

KIDBIRTHDAY_NP_ALL (B17_x) reports the day of the month of the child's birth, according to the Vikram Samvat, the official calendar in Nepal. This variable is only available for Nepali samples.

KIDBIRTHDAY_NP_ALL consists of a set of twenty separate variables, covering the most recent birth (KIDBIRTHDAY_01) up to the twentieth-most-recent birth (KIDBIRTHDAY_20) for a female respondent of childbearing age. If KIDBIRTHDAY_NP_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 KIDBIRTHDAY_20 would not be available for that survey in IPUMS-DHS.

Comparability

KIDBIRTHDAY_NP_ALL (B17_x) has no comparability problems.

All standard date variables in Nepal DHS samples are given in the Nepali calendar. The Nepali calendar, or Vikram Samvat, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 months of 29 to 32 days each. According to the Gregorian calendar, the Nepali calendar begins in mid-April. Because the 12 months do not match the sidereal year, correctional months are occasionally added or subtracted. It is only possible to convert dates given in Vikram Samvat to the Gregorian calendar when the exact date (day, month and year) is available. Otherwise, it is only possible to approximate to the month. Vikram Samvat is approximately 56 years, 8 months, and 15 days ahead of the Gregorian calendar.

Comparability - Standard DHS

KIDBIRTHDAY_NP_ALL (B17_x) is included in Phase VII forward of the standard DHS questionnaire (for Nepali samples).

Universe