Demographic characteristics (for all person)
(5) Age_ _
Report the age in years followed by the word "years." For infants younger than 1, mark down "0 years."
Demographic Characteristics (for each household member)
Column (5): Age
This is the characteristic that is the most difficult to determine. For this reason, great efforts must be taken to obtain the most accurate determination. The census agent must do the following:
- Ask the person for his/her date of birth or age. If the person does not know either information, ask if he/she has a birth certificate or any other document that could indicate his/her age. If he/she does not have any such document, the census agent must help him/her estimate his/her age either by using the historical calendar (see annex) or by comparison with other persons for whom the age is known.
- To do so, the agent shall ask him/her if he/she remembers given events and his/her age when the event occurred.
- He could also ask him/her to bring or name another person of the same age range with the hope that the latter possesses official documents or could give better information.
- If the person declares an age, the census agent must use common sense to ascertain the veracity of the given age. He must be aware that:
The age of a father must be at least 15 years higher than that of his first child;
The age of a mother must be at least 12 years higher than that of her first child.
How to report in the age: age must be written as the number of elapsed years i.e. the number of full years lived by the person. For children under the age of 1 (i.e. less than 12 months) report 0.
Thus, a child of 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, or even 11 months of age, will be reported as having an age of 0 because he has not lived for one full year yet. For persons of 1 or more years of age, note the age from their latest birthday.
[Examples are not presented here]