An assessment of age and date reporting in the DHS surveys, 1985-2003

Incompleteness of reporting (such as giving age but not a birth year or month), heaping of ages or birth years (stating final digit 0 or 5, or age at death 12 months, for example), and displacement (transfers below age 15, above age 49, or outside the interval for the child health questions) are examined. Results are presented mainly in the form of histograms showing the distribution of indexes of these kinds of problems and lists of surveys that exceed specific thresholds. The effect of displacement on estimates of fertility and infant mortality is explored, as well as evidence that education of the household respondent, household head, and the mother tend to affect misreporting. Trends over time and differences between major regions are presented. (Author abstract)