Demographic and Health Surveys Methodology - Measure DHS

All Women Ever-Married Women All Women Factors x 100Age Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total15 50.7 413.65 464.35 0 43.55 43.55 884 950 106616 48.18 466.25 514.44 0 127.09 127.09 884 367 40417 41.07 381.55 422.61 15.84 254.55 270.4 884 150 15618 42.16 380.85 423.01 20.01 301.43 321.44 211 126 13219 58.19 377.12 435.31 35.83 318.74 354.57 162 118 12320 57.33 387.45 444.78 40.69 351.82 392.51 141 110 11321 53.13 293.66 346.78 41.45 263.32 304.77 128 112 11422 50.88 318.5 369.38 37.06 305.28 342.34 137 104 10823 35.92 383.58 419.51 28.06 359.32 387.38 128 107 10848 17.46 175.2 192.66 17.46 172.85 190.31 100 101 10149 14.18 152.22 166.4 13.51 152.22 165.73 105 100 100The “all women factors” are calculated by dividing the total number of women by the number of evermarriedwomen for each characteristic (urban/rural and total) within each single age. The factor forwomen 15 years old living in rural areas is 9.5. This value is calculated by dividing 413.65 by 43.55.What this factor is saying is that an ever-married woman age 15 living in a rural area represents 9.5women of the total women population in that area for that survey.It is important to note that there are no ever-married women for ages 15 and 16 in the urban areas. Tocalculate the factors for those ages, the total number of women needs to be accumulated until an agewhere ever-married women are found (age 17 in this case). The result of this accumulation is then dividedby the number ever-married women found.(50.7 + 48.18 + 41.07)/15.84 = 139.95/15.84 = 8.84The same factor is applied to women ages 15, 16, and 17 because 15.84 ever-married women representthe 139.95 accumulated women for those age groups.Although these factors are calculated at the household level, they are normally used at the women’s level(or men’s levels for ever-married male surveys). To do that, each woman is assigned a factor for eachcharacteristic for which the factors are calculated. The links to assign the factors are age and thecharacteristic. In our example a woman 18 years old, living in an urban area, would be assigned thefactors 1.32 for the total and 2.11 for place of residence. When establishing the values for thecharacteristics to be used as links, they must be taken from the household level and not from the woman’slevel. The reason is that there may be differences from the data recorded in the household compared withthe data recorded in the Women’s Questionnaire. A different person than the respondent to the Women’sQuestionnaire may report age and education in the Household Questionnaire. However, when factors arecalculated they need to use the household variables (because not all women have an individual interview).Another important issue is that factors can only be calculated for characteristics present in the HouseholdQuestionnaire. For example, factors for media exposure or knowledge of HIV/AIDS cannot be calculatedbecause they are collected at the women’s level.Guide to DHS Statistics 20 September 2003