Age is a very important personal characteristic that we are concerned with in the Census. Two columns are provided for entering the age. For all those persons who are one year old or older, the age will be recorded in completed years and '00' will be recorded for babies less than a year.
The age will be entered in two digits, 01, 02, 09, 10, 11,.....'89. For those who are 90 years and
older. 9 and 0 will be shaded.
40
[Omitted Examples]
Where there may be some doubt, ages of children can be reasonably estimated by looking at them and comparing them to other children of known ages in the household.
Some people will, however, not know their ages. In such cases you will have to estimate their ages. Ask such a person how long they have been living in the area, about what time in their life they came here, what they did then, for how long, how old they were when they left their parents' home, etc. In this manner, you can build their life history. It is also possible to determine their age by referring to some historical events that they may remember, e.g., how old they were when the Lusaka-Mongu Road was built by the Chinese, or when the name of Feira Boma was changed to Luangwa, or when a certain Chief died, or when Katima Mulilo Pontoon disaster occurred, or when Mufulira Mine disaster occurred or when Zambia became independent, etc. Such historical .vents are meant to help a respondent remember how old they may have been when they were occurring. Do not rely completely on a single event. You should also check this with a later event.
If you have already ascertained the age of some other members of the household or of a neighbour, this may be of considerable help in determining the ages of other members of the household. For example, if you have estimated that the eldest child of the head of the household is 12 years old, you may be able to determine the ages of the other children by finding out how many years elapsed between the births of the different children.
[Omitted Examples]
This question on age will be the last one to be asked of all persons who are usual members of a household, but absent at the time of enumeration (P5).