This Section will provide information on fertility of all females' 14 years and over. The census, moreover, seeks to obtain supplementary data of demographic interest than that provided from the Registrar's General Office.
The data collected are of even greater importance when cross-classified and analyzed by marital and union status, religion, ethnicity and other socioeconomic factors like occupational and educational attainment. Two examples of measures of fertility that can be obtained from the census are the ratio of young children to women of childbearing age and the number of children ever born to women. Additionally, fertility studies could be extended to population groups or communities within Trinidad and Tobago.
[p.58]
Fertility simply indicates the rate at which women of childbearing age are having children. This will have a direct impact on resource allocation in terms of medical, educational, health and training facilities.
Question 40 - Union status at present or at age 45
The response to this question must indicate the type of family association in which the woman is or had been engaged. This question refers to females only.
In the case of women under 45 years of age, it refers to the relationship or association existing at the time of the census. In the case of women over 45 years of age, it must describe the relationship existing at the time when she was 45 years old.
Six response positions are possible: "Married", "common law" and "visiting" describe the type of union, whereas "no longer living with husband", "no longer living with common-law partner", and "never had a husband nor common law partner" indicate the absence of a union at present or at age 45.
Where a woman has had a child during the twelve (12) months preceding the census, three response positions are possible - "married", "common law", or "visiting".
A woman must only be ticked as being in a "visiting" union if she had a birth (live or still) within the twelve (12) month period preceding the census. This response must not be probed.