HOUSEHOLDS: META DATA
Variables:
1. Province (Common variable in both SAPERSON and SAHHOLD files)
Notes for users
2. Magisterial district (Common variable in both SAPERSON and SAHHOLD files)
Notes for users
3. District Council (Common variable in both SAPERSON and SAHHOLD files)
Notes for users
4. Transitional local Council/Rural Council (Common variable in both SAPERSON and SAHHOLD files)
Notes for users
To ensure confidentiality within the 10% sample, all local authorities with less than 2000 households have been combined with adjacent ones to form units which are spatially linked. As many local authorities had fewer than this number, they had to be grouped together to ensure that the minimum number of households was met. Hostel dwellers were excluded for the purpose of this exercise.
Local authorities with less than 2000 households were pooled with other local authorities based on the following principles:
A TLC with less than 2000 households was grouped with the TRC within which the TLC was located and vica versa. Where a TRC plus all the TLCs within its boundaries were less than the minimum of 2000 households the TRC (including the TLCs within its boundaries) was pooled with the adjacent TRC. Where TLCs were adjacent to another TLC they were pooled to form one unit.
5. Remarks (Common variable in both SAPERSON and SAHHOLD files)
Notes for users
6. Household number (Common variable in both SAPERSON and SAHHOLD files)
7. Household questionnaire type
Notes for users
* Summary book for hostels
* Enumerator's book for special enumeration.
Only household questionnaire type records were included in the household file of the 10% sample.
8. Type of area (Also in person file)
Notes for users
Urban - EAs within municipal or local authority boundaries. These can be further classified as:
* Area with mainly informal dwellings (so-called 'squatter areas').
* Area with mainly hostels, e.g. mine, factory and municipal hostels.
* Area with mainly institutions e.g. prisons and hospitals.
* Area with mainly informal dwellings.
* Area with mainly hostels.
* Area with mainly institutions.
* Semi-town (i.e. a town without a local authority) with predominantly formal dwellings such as mining, and industrial towns where housing for employees is provided by employers.
* Village/settlement without a local authority and which is not situated within a tribal area and with formal and semi-formal dwellings such as houses, huts and rondavels.
* Tribal authority area with villages.
* Area with mainly informal dwellings.
* Area with mainly hostels.
* Area with mainly institutions.
* Area with farms, agricultural holdings, holiday resorts, agricultural schools and colleges.
* Tribal authority area outside of villages.
9. Additional money generated by household
Notes for users
10. Remittances or payments receive
Notes for users
11. Migrant workers absent from household
Notes for users
If the respondent answered that there were migrant workers who were usually members of the household, further details were requested for up to four migrant workers per household. This information (age, gender, relationship and current address) is available on the migrant file. The migrant file should not include migrant workers who were at home on Census Night as they would be listed as ordinary members of the household.
A complementary variable was derived for households to record whether any migrant workers were present in the household. See Migrant workers present in household for more details.
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Not included
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Not included
12. Migrant workers present in household
Notes for users
This variable was derived from the person-level file, question 10, which asked whether any person in the household was a migrant worker. See the person variable Migrant worker for more details.
13. Type of dwelling
Notes for users
2. Traditional dwelling/hut/structure made of traditional materials
3. Flat in a block of flats
4. Town/cluster/semi-detached house (simplex, duplex or triplex)
5. Unit in a retirement village
6. House/flat/room, in backyard
7. Informal dwelling/shack, in backyard
8. Informal dwelling/shack, NOT in backyard, e.g. in an informal/squatter settlement
9. Room/flatlet not in backyard but on a shared property
10. Caravan/tent
11. None/homeless
12. Other, specify.....
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Not included
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Not included
14. Number of rooms
Hostels and institutions were required to state 'No. of rooms (for sleeping) in the hostel (institution).' As the questions differed, any analysis of this question should be done separately for households and hostels/institutions.
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Front page No. of rooms (for sleeping) in the hostel (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Front page No. of rooms (for sleeping) in the institution (write in)
15. Number of households sharing one room
The questions on households sharing one room were included to measure the level of overcrowding of accommodation. If no response was given to these questions, it was assumed in coding that the households were not sharing the room.
Care should be taken to ensure that households are not double counted when analysing this data as all households sharing a room would have been enumerated separately and each should have stated they were sharing a room. Each household should have stated how many other households were sharing the room, although some may have included their own household in the count.
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Not included
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Not included
16. Dwelling ownership
Notes for users: Each household was asked whether the dwelling was owned by a member of the household.
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Not included
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Not included
17. Fuel used for cooking
Notes for users
The response list included the following detail for the first two categories (the terms have been summarised for output purposes):
* Electricity from other source, eg. generator, solar cell
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Q2.1 What type of energy/fuel does this household MAINLY use for cooking, heating and lighting? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Q2.1 What type of energy/fuel does this institution MAINLY use for cooking, heating and lighting? (pre-coded)
18. Fuel used for heating
Notes for users
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Q2.1 What type of energy/fuel does this household MAINLY use for cooking, heating and lighting? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Q2.1 What type of energy/fuel does this institution MAINLY use for cooking, heating and lighting? (pre-coded)
19. Fuel used for lighting
Notes for users
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Q2.1 What type of energy/fuel does this household MAINLY use for cooking, heating and lighting? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Q2.1 What type of energy/fuel does this institution MAINLY use for cooking, heating and lighting? (pre-coded)
20. Main water supply
Notes for users
Piped (tap) water, for each housing-unit in the hostel/institution
- Piped (tap) water, on site or in yard
Piped (tap) water, on site or yard of hostel/institution
- Public tap
Shared tap/s for residents
- Water-carrier/tanke
Water-carrier/tanker
- Borehole/rain-water tank/well
Borehole/rain-water tank/well
- Dam/river/stream/spring
Dam/river/stream/spring
- Other
Other
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Q2.2 What is this hostel's main water supply? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Q2.2 What is this institution's main water supply? (pre-coded)
21. Toilet facilities
Notes for users
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Q2.3 What type of toilet is available? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Q2.3 What type of toilet is available? (pre-coded)
22. Refuse disposal
Notes for users
If the response was 'Other', provision was made for a response to be written in but, if it couldn't be related to one of the other response options, it was just coded as 'Other'.
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Q2.4 How is the refuse or rubbish of this hostel disposed of? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Q2.4 How is the refuse or rubbish of this institution disposed of? (pre-coded)
23. Telephone facilities
Notes for users
Hostels and institutions were asked ' Is there at least one telephone on this premises that residents can use?' with 'yes' and 'no' being the valid responses.
Thus, as the questions differed for households and hostels/institutions, the data should be analysed separately.
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Q2.5 Is there at least one telephone on this premises that residents can use? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Q2.5 Is there at least one telephone on this premises that residents can use? (pre-coded)
24. Population group of head of household
Notes for users
25. Gender of head of household
Notes for users
See also Gender
26. Age of head of household
27. Highest education level of head of household
Notes for users
* Any technical or artisan certificate, diploma or degree completed at an educational institution
* Whether currently attending school, college, technikon or university full or part-time
The variable 'Highest education level' summarises the information from the various questions on both questionnaires.
South Africa has twelve years of formal schooling. These are currently referred to as Grade 1 to Grade 12. In some cases a preparatory year, Grade 0, is also available for children who have not yet started formal schooling.
Prior to the introduction of the new grades there were a number of different systems for referring to the different school years. One system referred to Grades 1 and 2 as sub-standards A and B, and Grades 3-12 as standards 1 to 10. Another system referred to the last five years as Forms 1-5. In all systems the twelfth year is usually referred to as the matriculation year. In most systems the seventh year indicated the end of primary schooling.
The questionnaire included the example, when asking for certificates, diplomas or degree, of 'e.g. teacher's diploma, BA degree or NTC III'). Diplomas and post-school certificates are sometimes available to those without matric. Higher education thus does not necessarily imply completion of formal schooling. In the publications post-school without matric is in the same category as post-school with matric.
The category 'Less than matric and qual' is only applicable to people enumerated on household or personal questionnaires as information on the level of schooling of people with higher qualifications isn't available from the special enumeration questionnaires. A problem with coding for special enumeration questionnaires meant that, originally, the same code was used for the categories 'No schooling' and 'Other higher qualification' - in the final data, persons 16 and younger were set to 'No schooling' while other persons were set to 'Other higher qualification'.
- Personal questionnaire: Q16.1/2 What is the highest school class/standard that this person has COMPLETED? Does this person have a technical or artisan certificate, a diploma or degree completed at an educational institution? (derived from highest school class and qualification level)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: C9 Highest level of education completed (write in)
28. Occupation of head of household
Notes for users
Two questions were asked to assist in accurately coding each person's occupation. The first asked for the name of the occupation and gave the following list of examples: 'plumber, street trader, cattle farmer, primary school teacher, domestic worker'. The second asked for more detail on the person's main duty/activity and gave the examples of 'installing pipes in new houses, selling fruit and vegetables, breeding cattle, teaching primary school children, cooking and cleaning'.
Coding was done using a code list of occupations based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO 88). Originally coding was done to four-digit level but problems with the quality of coding and the fact that many categories had extremely small numbers meant that the data will only be released at three-digit level. The category 'Elementary' was formerly termed 'Unskilled' and can be understood as routine production work.
- Personal questionnaire: Q19.3/4 Focus on the occupation of this person. What would you call this occupation? Describe this person's main duty/activity in more detail. (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
29. Employment status of head of household
Notes for users
30. Household size
The number of persons is derived from unweighted person counts.
31. Highest individual income in household (monthly)
Notes for users
Respondents could choose to think of income in terms of weekly, monthly or annual amounts. The census questionnaire gave the following instructions: 'Think of the past year (1 October 1995 to 30 September 1996) and the money each person received. Please indicate each person's income category before tax. ... Include all sources of income, for example, housing loan subsidies, bonuses, allowances such as car allowances and investment income. If the person receives a pension or disability grant, please include this amount.' The income asked for therefore included both income earned from work and other income.
This question was asked of all persons, whether working or not at the time of the census. However, for many purposes, users may want to restrict this to all persons aged 15 years or older, or all employed persons. Individual income was used in the derivation of a crude estimate of household income. See the section on household income for more detail. Household income is presented in annual amounts.
32. Population group of person with highest income in household
Notes for users
33. Gender of person with highest income in household
Notes for users
34. Derived household income (monthly)
Notes for users
* for the first class among those with incomes, the amount was R1 600,
* for the second class, the amount was the midpoint of the class interval,
* for the last class, the amount was R720 000,
* for the other classes, the amount was calculated as the logarithmic mean of the top and bottom of the given interval.
Income for the entire household were again converted into categories.
Warning: You should use this variable with caution and be aware of its limitations. Household income has been derived from personal incomes collected in ranges and additional money generated and remittance received. For each range, an assumption had to be made as to the appropriate point to use for the calculations. This has made the results tentative. Household income does not provide a measure of total income and its accuracy in representing relative income is unknown.
The relatively large proportion of households where one or more members did not specify their incomes needs to be noted. Cross tabulations indicate that they are evenly distributed by education and occupation. Care therefore needs to be taken when interpreting household incomes. Direct comparisons with other data sets cannot be made. The main reason for publishing the data is to show patterns and trends, rather then precise estimates.
35. Household weight
PERSONS: META DATA
Variables:
1. Province (Common variable in both SAPERSON and SAHHOLD files)
Notes for users
2. Magisterial district (Common variable in both SAPERSON and SAHHOLD files)
Notes for users
3. District Council (Common variable in both SAPERSON and SAHHOLD files)
Notes for users
4. Transitional local Council/Rural Council (Common variable in both SAPERSON and SAHHOLD files)
Notes for users
To ensure confidentiality within the 10% sample, all local authorities with less than 2000 households have been combined with adjacent ones to form units which are spatially linked. As many local authorities had fewer than this number, they had to be grouped together to ensure that the minimum number of households was met. Hostel dwellers were excluded for the purpose of this exercise.
Local authorities with less than 2000 households were pooled with other local authorities based on the following principles: A TLC with less than 2000 households was grouped with the TRC within which the TLC was located and vica versa. Where a TRC plus all the TLCs within its boundaries were less than the minimum of 2000 households the TRC (including the TLCs within its boundaries) was pooled with the adjacent TRC. Where TLCs were adjacent to another TLC they were pooled to form one unit.
5. Remarks (Common variable in both SAPERSON and SAHHOLD files)
Notes for users
6. Household number (Common variable in both SAPERSON and SAHHOLD files)
7. Person number
See also household questionnaire type.
8. Household questionnaire type
Notes for users
* Summary book for hostels
* Enumerator's book for special enumeration.
Only records with questionnaire type 'H' should be selected when merging with the household file.
9. Type of area (Also in household file)
Notes for users
Urban - EAs within municipal or local authority boundaries. These can be further classified as:
* Area with mainly informal dwellings (so-called 'squatter areas').
* Area with mainly hostels, e.g. mine, factory and municipal hostels.
* Area with mainly institutions e.g. prisons and hospitals.
* Area with mainly informal dwellings.
* Area with mainly hostels.
* Area with mainly institutions.
* Semi-town (i.e. a town without a local authority) with predominantly formal dwellings such as mining, and industrial towns where housing for employees is provided by employers.
* Village/settlement without a local authority and which is not situated within a tribal area and with formal and semi-formal dwellings such as houses, huts and rondavels.
* Tribal authority area with villages.
* Area with mainly informal dwellings.
* Area with mainly hostels.
* Area with mainly institutions.
* Area with farms, agricultural holdings, holiday resorts, agricultural schools and colleges.
* Tribal authority area outside of villages.
10. Type of institution
Notes for users
The questionnaire used in institutions included a question on the type of the institution. The response options provided were:
* Residential hotel/boarding house/private hotel
* Home for the aged
* Home for the disabled (sight, hearing, physical or mental)
* Hospital/medical facility/clinic (including mental hospitals)
* Hostel/compound for workers provided by mines, other employers, municipalities or local authorities
* Shelter for the homeless/night shelter/refuge
* School hostel/hostel at an educational institution
* Child care institution/orphanage
* Children's correctional institution/place of safety
* Initiation school
* Prison/correctional services institution/police cells
* Police quarters
* Nurses' quarters/doctors' quarters
* Church hall/community centre/recreation centre
* Convent/monastery/religious retreat/mission stations
* Caravan park/camping site/marina
* Diplomatic mission abroad
* Defence force
* Refugee settlements
* Ships in the harbours
* South African islands
* Border posts
* Other
- Summary questionnaire for hostels: Not included
- Special enumeration questionnaire for institutions: Second page - type of institution (pre-coded)
11. Gender
Notes for users
Interviewers were instructed that they could complete this question based on their observation and did not have to ask it if the person was present.
- Personal questionnaire: Q2 Is this person male or female? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: C3 Gender (pre-coded)
12. Age
The question required the age in completed years. The household questionnaire included the following instruction: 'For babies under one year, write "0" years, if date of birth is not known.'
Responses of 120 or greater were set to 'Unspecified'.
- Personal questionnaire: Q3 What is this person's date of birth? (Give as much information as is known.) Or else, if date of birth is not known, what is the (estimated) age of this person? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: C4 and C5 Age in years; Date of birth (write in)
13. Relationship to head
Notes for users
* Husband/wife/partner
* Son/daughter/stepchild/adopted child
* Brother/sister
* Father/mother
* Grandparent
* Grandchild
* Other relative (e.g. in-laws)
* Non-related person
Person 2: Husband/wife,
Person 3: Non-related person,
Person 4: Non-related person.
It was dependent upon respondents to nominate the head of the household and no guidelines were provided on the questionnaire as to who this should be. The interviewer's instructions defined head of household as 'a male or a female who assumes responsibility for the household'.
The category 'Son/daughter' includes stepchildren and adopted children as well as natural children. On the questionnaire, 'in-laws' was given as an example for 'Other relative' although many other relationships would also fall within this category.
Although this question was not included in personal questionnaires, it is not possible to distinguish personal and household questionnaires on the dataset. Thus, persons in personal questionnaires have been included in the 'Unspecified' category.
- Personal questionnaire: Not included
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
14. Marital status
Notes for users
* Married: Civil/religious
* Married: Traditional/customary
* Living together (with partner)
* Widower/widow
* Divorced/separated
Only information on the person's present marital status was sought. 'Living together' was treated as a legitimate option, even though the person may have a different registered marital status (eg. never married or divorced).
All persons aged under 16 were coded as 'Never married'.
It is possible that a person's marital status may apparently differ from the relationship stated. This may be as a result of the respondent perceiving the questions as relating to different issues or may be due to genuine errors.
- Personal questionnaire: Q4 What is this person's PRESENT marital status? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
15. Population group
Notes for users
Only four options were provided on the questionnaire (African/Black, Coloured, Indian/Asian and White). Respondents were not given an option of 'Other'.
During Census '96 when some people whom identified as Griquas requested to be identified as a separate population group. At short notice, instructions were changed to allow interviewers to write '5 Griqua' on the questionnaire and these responses were coded separately. However, the number of people identifying themselves as Griqua was small and represented an under-identification of the number of people who would have been identified as Griquas if there had been such a category on the questionnaire to indicate that this was a valid response. People identifying as 'Griqua' have been included with 'Unspecified'.
- Personal questionnaire: Q5 How would this person describe him-herself? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: C6 Population Group (pre-coded)
16. First language
Notes for users
A coding list of languages was compiled, including the 11 official languages as well as other languages which are relatively commonly spoken in South Africa.
Interviewers were instructed: 'For babies, write down the home language of their parents. (If the parents have different home languages, write down the mother's home language).'
- Personal questionnaire: Q6.1 Which language does this person speak MOST OFTEN AT HOME? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: C7 Home language (write in)
17. Second language
Notes for users
This question involved two parts - firstly, whether the person spoke more than one language and then, if so, what language was spoken next most often. The responses to both these parts have been incorporated into the single variable 'Second language'.
- Personal questionnaire: Q6.2 Does this person speak more than one language AT HOME? If 'Yes', specify the language he/she speaks NEXT MOST OFTEN (first part pre-coded, second part write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
18. Religion
Notes for users
The list below contains summarised versions of the full coding descriptions. The detailed descriptions are available from Stats SA if required.
As many categories contain very small counts, it is recommended that the standard recode is used wherever possible.
The following grouping (recoding) was compiled by an academic from the University of Pretoria and is recommended to users in preference to the full listing:
- Dutch Reformed churches
Zion Christian Church
Other Catholic churches
Other Methodist churches
Pinkster Protestante Kerk
Full Gospel Church of God in Southern Africa
Other Pentecostal churches
Salvation Army United Church
Seventh-Day Adventist Church
Assemblies of God of South Africa
International Pentecost Church
Other Pentecostal churches
Other (Seventh-Day) Adventist churches
Other assemblies
Christian Centres
Other Evangelical churches
Other Charismatic churches
Church of England in South Africa
Other Lutheran churches
Other Presbyterian churches
Other Baptist churches
Other Congregational churches
Other Orthodox churches
New Apostolic Church
St John's Apostolic Church
Other African Apostolic churches
Ethiopian type churches
Ethnic churches
Nederduits Hervormde Kerk
Afrikaanse Protestante Kerk
Christian Scientist
Buddhism
Taoist
Confucian
Bahais
New Age
Jehovah's Witnesses
Other non-Christian religions
Other
Unspecified
- Personal questionnaire: Q7 What is this person's religion, denomination or belief? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
19. Country of birth
Notes for users
Many countries have very small counts. For most purposes, users may find the recode more appropriate.
- Personal questionnaire: Q8 Was this person born in South Africa? If 'No, in what country was this person born? (first part pre-coded, second part write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
20. Citizenship
Notes for users
On special enumeration questionnaires, only 'Nationality or Citizenship' was asked for and no information was obtained on dual citizenship.
The variable 'Citizenship' summarizes the information from all these questions. If a person was recorded as a citizen of both South Africa and another country, they are recorded as a citizen of South Africa in this variable. If information on dual citizenship is required, the variables 'Citizen of South Africa' and 'Citizen of other country' should be used.
- Personal questionnaire: Q9 Is this person a citizen of... (If dual citizenship or citizenship of another country), what is the name of the country? (first part pre-coded, second part write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: C8 Nationality or Citizenship (write in)
21. Citizen of other country
Notes for users
- Personal questionnaire: Q9.2 If dual citizenship or citizenship of another country, what is the name of the country? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
22. Citizen of South Africa
Notes for users
- Personal questionnaire: Q9.1 Is this person a citizen of... (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
23. Migrant worker
Notes for users
Although the question was asked in respect of all persons, those under 15 were set to 'Not applicable' in line with all other employment-related variables.
It is not possible to determine conclusively whether a migrant worker was enumerated at the place they consider home or the place they have migrated to for work. However, the questions on usual residence and district of employment may be of some use.
The data from this question was also used to derive the household variable indicating whether any migrant workers were present in the household (Migrant workers present in hhold). Complementary information was obtained from the question for each household on whether there were any people who were absent from the household because they were migrant workers (Migrant workers absent from hhold).
- Personal questionnaire: Q10 Is this person a migrant worker? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
24. Place of usual residence
Notes for users
A response of 'No usual address' was included. This response was included for people who did not have a permanent place of residence at the time of the census, such as homeless people. However, other people, such as people who moved regularly for work and had no home base, may also have selected this response.
The question on usual residence had two parts. The first determined whether or not the person was enumerated at their usual residence while the second recorded the location of the usual residence. This variable, Place of usual residence, contains the results of the first part of the question.
- Personal questionnaire: Q11.1 Is this DWELLING the place where the person usually lives, i.e. where the person spends at least four nights per week? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
25. Magisterial district/country of usual residence
Notes for users
During processing, coding was done for Magisterial district and Place name. However, at this time, only the Magisterial district data is available as the Place name codes are still being finalised.
- Personal questionnaire: Q11 If 'No', where does this person usually live? (write in if elsewhere, derived if census address)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
26. Year moved to usual residence
Notes for users
This variable should be used in conjunction with 'District of usual residence', and 'District of previous residence'.
- Personal questionnaire: Q12.1 In which year did the person move to the dwelling where he/she usually lives? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
27. Magisterial district/country of previous residence
Notes for users
The questionnaire included the reminder 'Before moving into the dwelling where he/she usually lives' after the question in order to prompt for most recent previous place of residence.
- Personal questionnaire: Q12.2 From where did this person move? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
28. Disability status
Notes for users
* Hearing/speech
* Physical disability (e.g. paralysis)
* Mental disability
Interviewer's instructions offered some assistance with the definition of serious disability: 'The question is subjective. Allow the respondent to decide on what he or she feels is a serious disability. As a guide, however, you can indicate that a serious disability is one which prevents the person from performing normal activities of daily living, for example, getting in or out of bed, dressing, washing or even working, without assistance or equipment.'
The data from this question should only be considered a rough indication of the incidence of disabilities in the population. Other sources of data, which incorporate rigorous definitions of what constitutes a serious disability, should be used as a supplement to this information. A person may have more than one disability. The variable 'Disability status' incorporates the information from the first question on whether a person has a disability as well as the type of disability if a person had only one type. For more detailed information on the number (if more than one) and combinations of disabilities people may have, it is necessary to look at the data for the separate variables on sight, hearing, physical and mental disabilities.
- Personal questionnaire: Q13 Does this person have a serious sight, hearing, physical or mental disability? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
29. Sight disability
Notes for users
- Personal questionnaire: Q13 (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
30. Hearing disability
Notes for users
- Personal questionnaire: Q13 (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
31. Physical disability
Notes for users
- Personal questionnaire: Q13 (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
32. Mental disability
Notes for users
- Personal questionnaire: Q13 (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
33. Mother still alive
Notes for users
Interviewer's instructions clarified that the questions referred to the person's biological parents.
- Personal questionnaire: Q14.1 Is this person's own mother still alive? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
34. Father still alive
Notes for users
- Personal questionnaire: Q14.2 Is this person's own father still alive? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
35. Number of children ever born
The four variables included in final census data are:
- No. of children still living
- No. of births in last 12 months
- Age of mother at birth of first child.
The questionnaire included the instruction 'Please include her children who are not living with her and those who have died'. Responses of up to 30 were coded for the number of children ever born. Responses greater than 30 were set to Unspecified.
- Personal questionnaire: Q15.1 How many children, if any has this woman ever given birth to (live births)? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
36. Number of children still living
Women who had not had any children born were set to 0 for this variable. Again, an upper limit of 30 was used for responses.
- Personal questionnaire: Q15.2 How many of her children are still living? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
37. Age of mother at birth of first child
This variable was derived from the month and year when the woman's first child was born and from her age. If either the year of the first birth or the mother's age were unspecified, this variable was set to 'Unspecified'. Also, the range of ages for the first birth was limited to 12 to 49 and any derived ages outside this range were set to 'Unspecified' as well.
- Personal questionnaire: Q15.3 When was her FIRST child born? (live birth) (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
38. Number of births in last 12 months
This question was only asked in respect of mothers born after 10 October 1946, i.e. those less than 50 years of age at the time of Census '96.
An upper limit of 9 was used for responses to this question. However, most responses greater than 4 are likely to be erroneous and this users may want to make allowance for this in their analysis.
- Personal questionnaire: Q15.4 How many children (live births), if any, has she given birth to the last 12 months? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
39. Highest school class completed
Notes for users
This variable should be used where information on schooling only is required, regardless of any possible further educational qualifications. This variable is not available for persons enumerated on special enumeration questionnaires as information on schooling and higher qualification were not obtained separately.
- Personal questionnaire: Q16.1 What is the highest school class/standard that this person has COMPLETED? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
40. Highest post-school qualification field
Notes for users
As only the name of the qualification was requested on the census questionnaire, the available information on the field of qualification is limited. For example, persons with a BA (Bachelor of Arts) may have majored in languages, history, geography, demography, philosophy or a range of other subjects but this information is not available from the census data. Originally qualifications were coded according to a detailed code list of fields but, given the limitations, only the summary data provided in this variable can be considered relatively reliable.
- Personal questionnaire: Q16.2 What is the highest qualification he/she has? (first part pre-coded, second part write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: C9 Highest level of education completed (write in)
41. Studying status
Notes for users
This question enquired as to whether the person was currently attending school, college, technikon or university and, where this was the case, distinguished between full-time and part-time study. The response options were:
* Yes, part-time
* No
The questionnaire included an instruction to the effect that correspondence education, but not pre-school education, were to be included. The instruction read as follows: 'This includes study by correspondence, but excludes creche and pre-school.'
Analysis of the results of this question indicated that there may have been a problem with the quality of the data. Some responses to this question contradicted responses given to a later question. That is, some persons recorded as not studying for question 16.3 were recorded as being 'scholar/full-time student' for question 18.1 on usual activity. The cause of this problem is not clear but respondents could have mistakenly thought that the question on studying applied only to post-school institutions as it appeared after the question on post-school qualifications. Where responses contradicted, the response to the second question was considered to be correct and the variable 'Studying status' was amended accordingly. However, if users would prefer the unedited data, this is available from Stats SA as a special request.
- Personal questionnaire: Q16.3 Does this person presently attend school, college, technikon or university? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
42. Highest post-school qualification level
Notes for users
The question on post-school qualification consisted of two parts. The first part asked 'Does the person have a technical or artisan certificate, a diploma or degree completed at an educational institution?' and then, for persons with a post-school qualification, the second part requested the name of the qualification. The information from both parts of this question are combined together in the variables 'Highest post-school qualification level' and 'Highest post-school qualification field'.
Information on the level of the qualification was based on the name of the qualification given by the respondent. Thus, the code was derived from the level associated with the name or abbreviation provided and not from a description of level.
The assumption was made that persons aged under 15 can't have post-school qualifications and so they were set to 'Not applicable' for the qualifications questions.
- Personal questionnaire: Q16.2 Does this person have a technical or artisan certificate, a diploma or degree completed at an educational institution? (first part pre-coded, second part write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: C9 Highest level of education completed (write in)
43. Highest school class completed
Notes for users
This variable should be used where information on schooling only is required, regardless of any possible further educational qualifications. This variable is not available for persons enumerated on special enumeration questionnaires as information on schooling and higher qualification were not obtained separately.
- Personal questionnaire: Q16.1 What is the highest school class/standard that this person has COMPLETED? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
44. Employment status
Notes for users
Employee status is derived from two questions - Q17 'Does the person work?' and Q18.1 relating to the reasons a person is not working. As all the information from the individual questions is included in the derived variable, the individual variables were not required on the final census database. The census questionnaire provided respondents with some guidance as to what constituted 'work'. It was defined as including working for pay, profit or family gain. The following activities were listed as work:
* Informal work such as making things for sale or selling things or rendering a service
* Work on a farm or the land, whether for a wage or as part of the household's farming activities.
* Unemployed, not looking for work, but would accept work
* Housewife/home-maker
* Child not yet scholar
* Scholar/full-time student
* Pensioner/retired person
* Disabled person
* Not wishing to work
* None of the above
Stats SA has developed two definitions of unemployment for use in household surveys -- a strict and an expanded definition. The strict definition is the official definition. The two definitions differ in the requirements for people to be actively looking for work and available to start work. It is not possible to replicate either definition in the census as the information obtained does not include sufficient detail. However, the first category of unemployed ('Unemployed and looking for work') is roughly equivalent to the expanded definition of unemployment used for other surveys. The second category of unemployed ('Unemployed, not looking for work, but would accept work'), despite the inclusion of the word 'unemployed', was treated as not economically active as it does not include the requirement that the person be looking for work. As such, it has been renamed 'Not working - not looking for work' in the dataset to ensure it is treated correctly in analysis.
While all persons aged 5 years and older were asked the questions on employment, the final census file includes only the data for persons aged 15 years and older. As a result, the category of 'Child not yet scholar' was set to 'Unspecified' as it is not applicable to persons aged over 15. Information on child labour will be available from the Child Labour Survey to be conducted by Stats SA in early 1999.
- Personal questionnaire: Q17/18.1 Does this person work (for pay, profit or family gain)? (For the person who is not working), is this person one of the following... (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
45. Full-time or part-time work
Notes for users
There was no definition of 'full-time' or 'part-time' provided on the census questionnaire or to interviewers. Thus, respondents may have interpreted the terms differently. This should be remembered in analysing the data.
- Personal questionnaire: Q19.1 Does this person carry out this activity full-time or part-time? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
46. Work status
Notes for users
This question asked for the best description of the person's 'activities or work status'. The following options were provided:
* Works for him-/herself and employs other people (employer)
* Works for an organisation or someone else (employee)
* Works in family business
- Personal questionnaire: Q19.2 How can one best describe this person's activities or work status? (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
47. Occupation
Notes for users
Coding was done using a code list of occupations based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO 88). Originally coding was done to four-digit level but problems with the quality of coding and the fact that many categories had extremely small numbers meant that the data will only be released at three-digit level. Recodes will be available to provide data at one- or two-digit level which should be sufficient for most purposes.
The category 'Elementary' was formerly termed 'Unskilled' and can be understood as routine production work.
- Personal questionnaire: Q19.3/4 Focus on the occupation of this person. What would you call this occupation? Describe this person's main duty/activity in more detail. (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
48. Occupation last employed
Notes for users
- Personal questionnaire: Q18.2/3 Focus on the type of work this person used to do in his/her last occupation. What would you call this occupation? Describe this person's main duty or activity that he/she used to do in this occupation in more detail (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
49. Industry
Notes for users
The classification used for coding was based on the International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC) 1993. Coding was done to the three-digit level but will only be released at the two-digit level due to the very small numbers in some three-digit categories.
Coding was based on the question 'What does the business do (main economic activity)?' Additional instructions were provided as follows: 'Describe the MAIN INDUSTRY, economic activity, produce or service of the person's employer or company, e.g. gold mining, road construction, supermarket, police service, hairdressing, banking; OR activity of the person, if self-employed, e.g. subsistence farming.' The question on the name of the business or company that the person works for was also referred to when needed in coding. The instruction for the question on the name of the business or company specified that the respondent or interviewer should indicate 'Domestic Service' for persons doing paid domestic work in a private household.
Domestic workers in private households are included in the industry category 'private households'.
- Personal questionnaire: Q19.5/7 What is the FULL name of the business/company or organisation for whom this person is working? What does the business do (main economic activity)? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
50. Magisterial district of employment
Notes for users
The question inquired about each individual's place of work. Respondents were asked to give the name of the suburb, village or settlement, the name of the city, town, farm or tribal authority, and the name of the magisterial district. If the place was not in South Africa, they were asked for the name of the country. This was coded to both 'Magisterial district' and 'Place name'. At this stage only 'Magisterial district' data is available.
- Personal questionnaire: Q19.6 Where is the place of work? (write in)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
51. Individual income (monthly)
Notes for users
Respondents could choose to think of income in terms of weekly, monthly or annual amounts. The census questionnaire gave the following instructions: 'Think of the past year (1 October 1995 to 30 September 1996) and the money each person received. Please indicate each person's income category before tax. ... Include all sources of income, for example, housing loan subsidies, bonuses, allowances such as car allowances and investment income. If the person receives a pension or disability grant, please include this amount.' The income asked for therefore included both income earned from work and other income.
This question was asked of all persons, whether working or not at the time of the census. However, for many purposes, users may want to restrict this to all persons aged 15 years or older, or all employed persons. Individual income was used in the derivation of a crude estimate of household income. See the section on household income for more detail. Household income is presented in annual amounts.
- Personal questionnaire: Q20 Please indicate this person's income category before tax (pre-coded)
- Special enumeration questionnaire: Not included
52. Person weight