E - Fertility characteristics
(For all women ages 15 and older)
[Questions 20 to 23 were asked of women age 15+ years old]

20. Total children born alive

E. Fertility characteristics (for all females aged 15 and older)

The purpose of question 20-23 is to obtain information allowing research on fertility and relevant characteristics related to population growth. They are also designed to obtain information about the level of and past trends in mortality rates in the population of Guatemala.

To investigate such important questions requires you to be sensitive and extremely clever during the interview.

Ask question 20-23 of all females aged 15 years or older, regardless of their civil status.

[p. 82]

If possible, ask these questions of the girls and women directly. They may sometimes forget to declare live-born children who died, and those who are still alive. Keep this in mind to avoid any omissions.

Important: It has been noted that some enumerators assume that unmarried women do not have children and thus they do not ask them the pertinent questions. This approach is incorrect and results in poor-quality data that cannot be used to study population growth.

Question 20: total number of live-born children

This question should be asked of all females aged 15 and older, regardless of their civil status.

1. How to ask the question:
Ask, "How many live-born children have you had in all?"

Keep in mind the following definition as you ask this question:
A live-born child is a child who breathes, cries, or moves when he or she is born. If the child shows any of these signs of life, he or she is considered live born and recorded as such, even if he or she died afterward.

2. How to record the answer:
Before recording the answer ask pertinent questions until you are sure that no live-born child has been omitted in the response.

If the girl or woman has had no live-born children, mark an "X" in box 00, "none."

In case of women who have had one or more live-born children, write the appropriate number after the word "number."

If the respondent does not know if the girl or woman in question has had any live-born children, write an "X" in box 99, "unknown."

[p. 83]

3. Example:
[This box contains question 20 of the section VI "people in the census household."]