Ecoregion is a categorical variable with 5-digit numeric codes. The first digit indicates the realm, the next two digits indicate the biome, and the last two digits indicate the ecoregion number.

-998 = Missing

Please refer to the ecoregion legend for the list of ecoregions' codes, labels, and other associated attributes.

Description

ECOREGION reports the predominant terrestrial ecoregion within a 5-kilometer circular buffer around each DHS cluster location. ECOREGION reports the biogeographic region (e.g., Afrotropic), the habitat type (e.g., tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands), and the ecoregion (e.g., East Sudanian savanna) that are associated with each cluster location. ECOREGION is available for every IPUMS-DHS sample with GPS data.

There are 825 terrestrial ecoregions in the world. Ecoregions are relatively large units of land containing distinct assemblages of natural communities and species, with boundaries that approximate the original extent of natural communities prior to major land-use change. The 5-digit codes in ECOREGION (e.g., 30129) include a 1-digit realm code (with 8 possible values), followed by a 2-digit biome code (with 14 possible values), and then a 2-digit ecoregion number. For the full list of codes and their meaning, see the ecoregion legend .

ECOREGION, like the other IPUMS-DHS contextual variables, is calculated and based on sources external to the DHS data. For more information on IPUMS-DHS contextual variables and how they are constructed, refer to the documentation on these variables.

Comparability

ECOREGION is comparable across samples.

Comparability - Standard DHS

ECOREGION is a contextual variable based on sources outside the DHS data.

Universe