IPUMS Geography in Transition

IPUMS is in the process of creating spatially harmonized geographic variables for all samples in the database. Currently, a few countries still have geographic elements that are not yet updated, reflecting an older method of organizing this information. These countries lack year-specific variables. Instead, they have variables that are harmonized over time and by name only. That is to say, the codes and labels are harmonized across samples, but the boundaries are not necessarily consistent, and some places exist in some samples and not in others. There are no boundary files associated with these variables. Only the first-level geographic units are harmonized for these countries.

By our next data release all IPUMS-International countries will have spatially harmonized geography at the first and second level of geography and corresponding year-specific geography.

For a typical country, the basic set of unharmonized variables under the old method looks like the following (using Dominican Republic as an example):

Variable Geographic level Type of geography
GEO1_DOX First level: provinces Harmonized by name [Non-GIS]
GEO2_DOX Second level: municipalities Harmonized by name [Non-GIS]

Notes on current state of geography

Click HERE for a list of geography variables across all IPUMS-International samples.

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