9. Age at first marriage _ _

You have to collect information in part 2 for all persons mentioned in statement 1.1 and statement 1.2 of part 1. Some of the following questions have been answered in part 1. Therefore there will be no need to ask these questions again. In such cases all you have to do is to copy the information in the appropriate column.

61. Column 8: marital status

Codes are provided in the column heading itself. You have to ask this delicate question carefully and record appropriate code numbers according to the answers given. Record code 1 for Never Married i.e. for those who have never entered into any form of marital union. Record code 2 for Married, 3 for widowed, 4 for divorced and 5 for separated.

61.1. The category "Married" will include those persons who are contractually married but not yet living as a man and wife. Even if a marriage is disputed in the neighborhood write code 2 if the person concerned says he or she is married and is in stable de facto union. The category separated will include both legal and de facto separations. Persons who were widowed or divorced but have remarried must be recorded as married.

62. Column 9: age at first marriage

[p. 23]

This question should be asked for other than never married persons. Age at first marriage of a person in completed years is the age at the time the person got married for the first time of his/her lifetime. This question should be asked only if the marital status of the person is "married or widowed or divorced or separated".