For all people
[Applies to questions 2.4 and 2.5]

2.5 Age
How many completed year old is (Name)? ____

[Below the text is a box labeled "Years," and under the text are three boxes.]

3.6 Age

The same as the question about sex, age provides some of the most important information to know, among other things, how much the birth rate ascended, what part of the population is young, what is adult and what part is in the third age, that is the composition of the population by age. Because of this, it is indispensable to have an answer.

The age of a person is defined as the number of completed or lived years of a person, from the date of birth to the moment of the interview.

Read the whole question and ask for completed years, mentioning the name of the person. If the answer is the date of birth, calculate the age together with the informant.

If the answer is not known, help the person to get an approximate age. Remember that an answer must exist.

To calculate the age starting from the date of birth, subtract the year of birth of the person from 1995 (current year).

Example:

Juan was born in 1969, therefore he is 26 years old (1995-1969=26). Another necessary aspect is the month of birth, to know if the age completed results in being a year off or not. Continuing the same example of Juan, he was born in April and the interview is in November, which means that he already completed [p. 88] 26 years. So the answer to the question is 26 years completed. On the contrary, if the month of birth were December, then the answer is 25 years.

When the person is less than a year old, (it is hours, days, weeks or less than 12 months old), write zeros in the spaces meant for it.

Be careful that the informant mentions the age in completed years and not the age they will be. If the answer is "I'm almost 38" or "close to 38" clarify affirming, "that is, you are 37 completed years old." One has to keep in mind that the answer normally corresponds to the age they will be and not the current one. When they answer "around 38," investigate the completed age, confirming if it 37 or 38.

If a person does not remember the age, help with some life event (marriage, birth of a child, school year passed, etc.) or ask that they show their driver's license, birth certificate, voter credentials, or another document where the date of birth appears.

Example:

On this certificate, the year of birth is 1988, subtract from 1995, and considering being born in July and the interview is in November, the answer is 07.

[graphic of the question from the census form]

[p. 89]

On this vaccination card, the date of birth is October of 1988, subtract 1995 and the result is seven, considering that the interview is in November, the year was completed and 07 is written down.

[graphic of the question from the census form]

When they show you their voter credentials, do not look directly at the age, the document was made one to four years before. To get the information, identify the month and the year of birth in the voter key and keep in mind the date that the Poll is carried out.

On this voter credential, the year of birth is 1960, which is subtracted from 1995 and the result is 35; considering that the interview is in November, the year has not been completed, the month of birth being in December, 34 should be written down.

[graphic of the question from the census form]

When the age is 98 or more write 98. 99 is used after trying to get the information by many means, finally you do not get it. It has to be emphasized that one should try to obtain an approximate age, since information with a margin of error is preferable to "does not know" as an answer.