IPUMS-DHS News

Four new countries added to IPUMS DHS, along with the latest samples for three other countries.

In December 2022, IPUMS DHS added data from Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, Eswatini/Swaziland, and Togo, along with the latest samples for Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Ghana.

Retrospective reproductive calendar data released as new unit of analysis, woman-months

In February 2022, IPUMS DHS released retrospective data on births, pregnancies, pregnancy terminations, and contraceptive use in the five years before the survey as a new unit of analysis, woman-months.

New data released for Chad, Egypt, Liberia, Rwanda, and Sri Lanka

In December 2020, IPUMS DHS released data for three new countries: Chad (3 samples), Liberia (3 samples), and Sri Lanka (1 sample). IPUMS DHS also released interim DHS data for Egypt (2003) and Rwanda (2008).

Latest data released for Benin, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, and Zambia

IPUMS DHS has released the latest standard DHS samples, from 2017 and 2018, for Benin, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, and Zambia.

Article on contextual variables in IPUMS DHS

To learn more about using the contextual data in IPUMS DHS, check out the article on that topic, by Elizabeth Heger Boyle, Miriam King, and Sarah Garcia, in the journal Population and Environment, vol 41 (2020).

New data for Jordan, Nepal, Pakistan, and South Africa

In May 2019, IPUMS DHS added new data for Jordan (7 samples), Nepal (5 samples), and South Africa (2 samples), plus the 2017 sample for Pakistan.

Data for men as a new unit of analysis

In May 2019, IPUMS DHS added men as a fifth unit of analysis. At this writing, data are available for men for 32 countries and 120 samples in IPUMS DHS.

Data for 7 new countries released in December 2018

In December 2018, IPUMS DHS added 10 samples from Senegal, 4 samples from Namibia, 3 samples from Burundi and Lesotho, and single samples from Afghanistan, Angola, and Myanmar.

Uganda 2016 and more variables released in July 2018

In July 2018, IPUMS-DHS added the Uganda 2016 sample plus biometric variables for women from the IR (individual recode) file. If children or births are chosen as the unit of analysis, then data on the mother's height, weight, and other biometric measures are also available now.

Data for 5 new countries released in April 2018

In April 2018, IPUMS-DHS added 7 samples from Bangladesh, 3 samples from Pakistan, 2 samples from Yemen, and single samples from Sudan and Tunisia.

Latest DHS samples for India and Ethiopia now available

IPUMS-DHS now includes data from the DHS samples for Ethiopia 2016 and India 2015-2016.

Household members a new unit of analysis in IPUMS-DHS

The DHS randomly selects households for interview within sampling clusters and collects information on the characteristics of the household and the household members. Household members are now included in IPUMS-DHS as a fourth unit of analysis. Along with basic demographics, the household members' data covers such topics as children's schooling, child labor and discipline, orphanhood, and tobacco use.

Anthropometric data for all young children, including orphans

Choosing household members as the unit of analysis allows researchers to analyze anthropometric data (on height, weight, and anemia) for all young children, including orphans. Using children as the unit of analysis instead restricts the sample to children whose mothers were alive and were interviewed for the women's questionnaire.

Use POPWT to get population-level numbers for household members in IPUMS-DHS

Using the original DHS weights corrects for issues such as oversampling smaller regions and produces numbers representing the total number of surveyed people. Using the new IPUMS-DHS variable POPWT, researchers can now produce estimates of the total number of people in the population who have a given characteristic. See the User Note on POPWT for more information.