Age
36. Information on age is to be collected in years completed in respect of each member of the household, including babies and visitors who slept in the DU(s) belonging to the household the previous night. For example this can be done by asking questions such as "How old is John?" followed by "When was John born?" Record the age in years completed and not the date of birth.
37. If a person gives his age with a fraction of a year, such as 8 years and 6 months or 27 years and 3 months, ignore the fraction: that is, use the 8 years or 27 years only. If a child's age is given as, for example, 9 months, record "00": that is, under one year old.
38. For the purpose of recording ages, the date of 11th September, 1987 has been selected as the reference point of the census. Note especially, therefore, that children born on or after 11th September, 1986 will be recorded as under 1 year, i.e. as "00"; those born from 11th September, 1985 to 10th September, 1986 will be recorded as "01"; those from 11th September, 1984 to 10th September, 1985 will be recorded as "02", and so on.
39. There are some people who do not know exactly how old they are. You are, however, required to write the age of every person and must, therefore, try your best to get as accurate ages as possible. You have been given a Calendar of Events to help you assess individuals' ages. This calendar presents a fairly good record of events which people may associate with either their own births or the births of their children. For example, a person may be unable to tell you his/her age. You should look at the person and form an impression about his/her age. Having done this you refer to the Calendar of Events and spot the earliest event which the person remembers. Find out how old the person was at that time. It is possible that the person indicates his/her age at the time of occurrence of the event by showing a child or by gestures of how tall he or she was at that time. If a person names an event and your calendar tells you that this would make him of an age which is very unlikely according to his appearance, then you must ask further questions.
40. If the person does not know or remember any of the events given in the calendar of events, then make the best possible assessment of the age by looking at him/her, or relating his/her age to that of other members of the household or other relatives whose ages are known.
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41. Once you have a correct age or a good estimate for one person within the same household, try to relate ages of other persons to that age. The older the people are, the more uncertain the assessment of age is likely to be, but you should put down the age which appears most probable from the evidence you are able to collect through questions and the appearance of the person, if he is present. Particular care must be taken in assessing and recording the ages of young children. In every instance you must make the best assessment possible and you must put down the age of every person recorded.
Persons of all ages
(f) Age: Write down the age in years completed of each member of the household in two digits in columns 19-20.