P-5: How old was [the respondent] at his/her last birthday?

Age is a very important personal characteristic that we are concerned with in this census. Two boxes are provided for entering the age. For all 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?.94. For those 95 years and older, 9 and 5 will be recorded. I don't know answer should not be allowed.

In some cases, the question on age will create problems such as people not knowing their age. Ask such people for their official documents such as the National Registration Card e.t.c. In certain cases you will have to estimate their ages. Ask such people how long they have been living in the area, about what time in their life they went there, 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 events are meant to help a respondent remember how old they may have been when these events were occurring. Do not rely completely on a single event. You should also check this with a later event.

Examples of historical events

If you have already ascertained the age of some other members of the household or of a neighbor, 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.

Examples on the age of respondent

• A respondent says he/she was born on 20th June, 1954 and the date on the day you are visiting the household is 25th October 2010, this would mean that this respondent turned 56 on his/her last birthday which fell on the 20th of June 2010 (i.e 2010 - 1954 = 56). So you are supposed to enter 5 and 6 in the spaces provided since we only report age in completed years.
• A respondent gives his/her date of birth as 12th December, 1962 and the date on the day you visit the household is 7th of October 2010. This means that this respondent will turn 48 on 12th of December 2010, (i.e., 2010 - 1962 = 48) but since we are reporting age in completed years, we just report age on the last birthday, which of course is 48 - 1 = 47 completed years, since he is yet to turn 48. So you enter 4 and 7 for age.

Note that question on age (P-5) will be the last one to be asked of all persons who are usual members of a household, but did not spend the night before the enumerator's visit with the household (Usual Members Absent ).