International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India.
Institute of Health Management Research, Bangalore, India.
J Biosoc Sci. 2022 Jul;54(4):725-734. doi: 10.1017/S0021932021000249. Epub 2021 Jun 8.
Age misreporting is a common phenomenon in Demographic and Health Surveys, and there are numerous reasons for this. The trend and pattern of disparity in age heaping vary between countries. The present study assesses age heaping in the selected South Asian countries of Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan using data from the most recent round of the Demographic and Health Survey. The respondent sample sizes were 203,703 for Afghanistan, 2,869,043 for India, 49,064 for Nepal, 81,618 for Bangladesh and 100,868 for Pakistan. Age heaping was assessed by respondent's age, education level, sex and level of education. Whipple's index was calculated to assess systematic heaping on certain ages as a result of digit preference. Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India showed stronger preference for ages ending with the digits '0' and '5' compared with Pakistan and Nepal among uneducated respondents. On the other hand, strong avoidance of ages ending in the digits '1', '4' and '9' was observed in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India. However, urban-rural place of residence was not found to be associated with digit preference in the study countries. Among males, age misreporting with the final digits '0' and '5' was highest in Bangladesh, followed by Afghanistan and India, and Nepal showed the least displacement. Strong digit preference and avoidance, and upper age displacement, were witnessed in the surveys conducted in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India on the parameters of sex and education level. Innovative methods of data collection with the measurement and minimization of errors using statistical techniques should be used to ensure accuracy of age data.
年龄错报是人口与健康调查中常见的现象，原因有很多。年龄堆积的趋势和模式在不同国家之间存在差异。本研究使用最新一轮人口与健康调查的数据，评估了阿富汗、印度、尼泊尔、孟加拉国和巴基斯坦这五个南亚国家的年龄堆积情况。阿富汗的受访者样本量为 203703 人，印度为 2869043 人，尼泊尔为 49064 人，孟加拉国为 81618 人，巴基斯坦为 100868 人。年龄堆积通过受访者的年龄、教育程度、性别和教育水平来评估。惠普尔指数用于评估由于数字偏好而导致某些年龄系统堆积的情况。在未受教育的受访者中，与巴基斯坦和尼泊尔相比，孟加拉国、阿富汗和印度对以数字“0”和“5”结尾的年龄表现出更强的偏好。另一方面，在孟加拉国、阿富汗和印度，人们强烈避免以数字“1”、“4”和“9”结尾的年龄。然而，在所研究的国家中，城乡居住地与数字偏好之间没有发现关联。在男性中，孟加拉国的最后一位数字为“0”和“5”的年龄错报率最高，其次是阿富汗和印度，而尼泊尔的年龄错报率最低。在孟加拉国、阿富汗和印度进行的关于性别和教育水平的调查中，观察到了强烈的数字偏好和回避，以及较高的年龄移位。应该使用创新的数据收集方法，并结合统计技术来测量和最小化误差，以确保年龄数据的准确性。
