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For all persons
[Questions D1-D10 were asked of all persons.]
D4. Date of birth
If date unknown estimate year
Day ____
Month ____
Year____
Questionnaire instructions
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Question D4 - Date of birth
86. Ask,
'When was this person born?'
Write the day, the month and the year of birth.
87. Whether or not the day and month are known, you must enter a year of birth for all persons.
88.And for children born 1990-1996 you must try particularly hard to get at least the month and the year.
89. This question is one of the most important in the census and it may be the most difficult to answer. You will find many people who do not know their date of birth. In these cases you will have to estimate the year of birth.
[p.17]
90. The best source of information will be birth certificates or baptismal certificates and some families have a Bible in which birth dates are recorded. Ask to see any documents which are available.
91. Some people may not know their date of birth but may know their age.
Ask,
'How old is this person?'
If the age is known, calculate the year of birth.
92. One reliable birthdate in the household may help you to work out the birthdates of other members of the household if it is known whether they are younger or older and by how many years.
93. If all else fails, make the best estimate you can, judging by such things as the person's appearance and position in the household and by using your common sense knowledge that parents are seldom younger than sixteen years of age when their first child is born, that women do not usually bear children below the age of twelve or over fifty years, that people who were in the same class at school are generally closely similar in age and so on.
94. If you are entering only the year of birth, because day and month are not known, write the year in full - for example, 1942 or 1969. In this way there can be no confusion between year of birth and age.