Codes
This variable is not available for any of the currently selected samples.
Explore how IPUMS created this variable
Most IPUMS data transformations are performed using variable harmonization tables that specify how each value in the source data is recoded. Some variables also require programming logic in addition to the harmonization table. The harmonization documents for this variable are:
- Harmonization table
- Supplemental programming
- Instructions for interpreting harmonization documents
class Agemonth : public Editor {
public:
Agemonth(VarPointer varInfo) : Editor(varInfo) {}
void edit() {
long a = getRecoded();
switch (dataSet) {
case dataset_id::us1910a: {
if (US1910A_0430() >= 0 && US1910A_0430() <= 12 && US1910A_0427() == 1)
a = 99;
} break;
}
setData(a);
}
};
Description
AGEMONTH gives the age in months of persons younger than one year old (AGE = 0) on census day.
Comparability — General
AGEMONTH is available in the samples of Canada and the United States, and in the 2% sample of United Kingdom 1851.
Enumerators were instructed to record the data as fractions; "under one month 0, thence in fractions 1/12, 2/12, 3/12, etc., up to 11/12."
It appears that enumerators were not diligent in writing "0" for children younger than one month old. The 1881 Canadian Census Project staff manually edited AGE to be 0 for everyone who was younger than 12 months old. If AGE was 30 days or fewer, AGEMONTH was set equal to 0.
In the Canada 1901 census, if one person's age was 0, the data entry operator entered the months elapsed between that person's birth month and 31 March 1901.
For United States 1910, age in months is available for persons younger than two years. For comparability purposes, persons more than 11 months old have been coded as NIU. See the unharmonized variable US1910A_0430 for age in months for persons more than 11 months old.
In United States 1850 and 1910 a few persons report being 12 months old. These cases are recoded as NIU for consistency with other samples.
Age in months was originally recorded as a fraction of a year on the census form. The enumerator instructions suggest that the response be recorded as some fraction of 12, but the frequency distributions indicate that some enumerators recorded it as a rounded number (often as "1/2," coded in the samples as 6 months - the most common code in all years) instead of the exact figure. Enumerators in the 1850-1880 samples recorded children who were younger than one month as being one month old. Respondents often rounded up the ages of eleven-month-olds to age 1.
Universe
Availability
- Canada: 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911
- United Kingdom: 1851c
- United States: 1850a, 1850b, 1860, 1870, 1880a, 1880b, 1900, 1910
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