Demographic and Health Surveys Methodology - Measure DHS

NUPTIALITYCURRENT MARITAL STATUSStatistics: Percent Distribution of Women, by Current Marital StatusDefinitionPercentage of women according to current status of marriage or cohabitation.A. Coverage: All women.B. Numerator categories: Numbers of women who are 1) currently legally or formally married,2) not married but living with a man in a consensual union, divorced from a legal or formalmarriage, 3) separated from a marriage or consensual union, 4) widowed from a marriage orconsensual union and not remarried or not in a consensual union, and 5) who never married norlived in a consensual union.C. Denominator: Number of women in sample.CalculationFor each category, 100 times the quotient of the numerator divided by the denominator. In ever-marriedsamples, the denominator is adjusted by the all woman factor.Handling of Missing ValuesNot applicable—Marital status is not allowed to have missing values.Notes and ConsiderationsPercentages add up to 100 percent.The definition of a consensual union may vary between countries. No proof of marital status is shown;categorization is done by the respondent.Guide to DHS Statistics 67 Updated September 2006