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Background: Accurate information on age is an essential prerequisite for demographic and epidemiological studies. This study analyzed the age data quality among the literate and illiterate (combined, rural, urban) population and examined the association between data quality and literacy. Material and Method: Secondary data on age statistics and literacy were obtained from census 2011. We measured age data quality for literates and illiterates (combined, rural, urban) by transforming Whipple's index known as ABCC, abbreviated based on surnames of the developers A'Hearn, Baten, and Crayen (2009). Correlation tests between literacy and ABCC were performed. RStudio (Version 1.3.1073) was used. Result: Computed ABCC indices in majority states (union territories) for literates (data quality rough) were higher than illiterates (data quality very rough). Urban data among literates and rural data among illiterates were comparatively superior. Correlation between ABCC and literacy rates for (i) literate combined (R = 0.84, P = 3.5e-10), (ii) literate rural (R = 0.8, P = 1.1e-08), (iii) literate urban (R = 0.8, P = 1e-08), (iv) illiterate combined (R = 0.54, P = 9e-04), (v) illiterate rural (R = 0.48, P = 0.0034), and (vi) illiterate urban (R = 0.73, P = 6.4e-07) was significant. Age data quality for both literates and illiterates was poor. There was heaping at terminal digits “0” and “5” even among literates, which contradicts the theoretical expectation of quality data among literates. Conclusion: Correlations between data quality and literacy were significant, with comparatively lower magnitude among illiterates, which indicates the role of literacy in yielding quality data. Awareness, training, ADHAAR-based enumeration, and digitization may be suggested for better age data.

Background: Accurate information on age is an essential prerequisite for demographic and epidemiological studies. This study analyzed the age data quality among the literate and illiterate (combined, rural, urban) population and examined the association between data quality and literacy. Material and Method: Secondary data on age statistics and literacy were obtained from census 2011. We measured age data quality for literates and illiterates (combined, rural, urban) by transforming Whipple's index known as ABCC, abbreviated based on surnames of the developers A'Hearn, Baten, and Crayen (2009). Correlation tests between literacy and ABCC were performed. RStudio (Version 1.3.1073) was used. Result: Computed ABCC indices in majority states (union territories) for literates (data quality rough) were higher than illiterates (data quality very rough). Urban data among literates and rural data among illiterates were comparatively superior. Correlation between ABCC and literacy rates for (i) literate combined (R = 0.84, P = 3.5e-10), (ii) literate rural (R = 0.8, P = 1.1e-08), (iii) literate urban (R = 0.8, P = 1e-08), (iv) illiterate combined (R = 0.54, P = 9e-04), (v) illiterate rural (R = 0.48, P = 0.0034), and (vi) illiterate urban (R = 0.73, P = 6.4e-07) was significant. Age data quality for both literates and illiterates was poor. There was heaping at terminal digits "0" and "5" even among literates, which contradicts the theoretical expectation of quality data among literates. Conclusion: Correlations between data quality and literacy were significant, with comparatively lower magnitude among illiterates, which indicates the role of literacy in yielding quality data. Awareness, training, ADHAAR-based enumeration, and digitization may be suggested for better age data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the quality of the Romanian population data for the years 1966–2018. The following age heaping measures are being used, each with its recommended population age span: Whipple, Myers, Bachi, UNASA, Kannisto, Coale and Li. In addition, the Kannisto measure of old age overstatement is used. Our analysis corroborates the results of our measures with the demographic characteristic of the Romanian population. We aim to establish whether; (a) the data spanning the time interval 1966–1989 is more accurate than the data collected during the 1990–2018 interval, (b) the Romanian data is at least of comparable quality with the tier 2 HMD data and/or (c) the Romanian data is not grossly inaccurate and therefore suitable for research. We find support for (a) and, cautioning against the live data for the time interval 2002–2018, for (b) and (c). Limitations aside (no through overstatement or cohort analysis), this is the first study to attempt such evaluation and hopefully not the last.

This article investigates the quality of the Romanian population data for the years 1966–2018. The following age heaping measures are being used, each with its recommended population age span: Whipple, Myers, Bachi, UNASA, Kannisto, Coale and Li. In addition, the Kannisto measure of old age overstatement is used. Our analysis corroborates the results of our measures with the demographic characteristic of the Romanian population. We aim to establish whether; (a) the data spanning the time interval 1966–1989 is more accurate than the data collected during the 1990–2018 interval, (b) the Romanian data is at least of comparable quality with the tier 2 HMD data and/or (c) the Romanian data is not grossly inaccurate and therefore suitable for research. We find support for (a) and, cautioning against the live data for the time interval 2002–2018, for (b) and (c). Limitations aside (no through overstatement or cohort analysis), this is the first study to attempt such evaluation and hopefully not the last. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Emerging Economies & Policy is the property of JOEEP: Journal of Emerging Economies & Policy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper studies the evolution of numeracy in Chile for cohorts born from the 1780s to the 1970s, providing a new series of this important indicator of human capital, essential to promote economic growth. This is the longest series currently available of any human capital indicator for Chile. It shows that numeracy was very low until the early twentieth century but that, contrary to traditional interpretations, it increased gradually from the 1780s (well before the promulgation of the primary instruction law of 1860), until full basic numeracy skills were achieved by the mid-twentieth century. This transition was completed some 3–4 decades after parallel developments occurred in the leading countries of the region and some 120 years behind the most developed areas of Europe. This development was characterized by high gender numeracy inequality until the first decades of the twentieth century, as well as by a pronounced regional inequality. However, there was a quick process of convergence across provinces, completed at the same time as gender inequality was reduced. Our numeracy data is also consistent with alternative human capital indicators such as literacy and schooling, and we provide a set of explanations about why they all improved, and their timing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This note is a rejoinder to Baten, Benati, and Ferber. We reiterate that, on close inspection, nineteenth‐century Italian census data contain a number of anomalies that sit uncomfortably with a straightforward age‐heaping‐as‐numeracy interpretation. In particular, we respond to Baten, Benati, and Ferber on the technical matters they have raised; then we show that our findings are robust to such criticism. Finally, we conclude with some general reflections on age heaping as a numeracy indicator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age misreporting is a common phenomenon in Demographic and Health Surveys, and there are numerous reasons for this. The trend and pattern of disparity in age heaping vary between countries. The present study assesses age heaping in the selected South Asian countries of Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan using data from the most recent round of the Demographic and Health Survey. The respondent sample sizes were 203,703 for Afghanistan, 2,869,043 for India, 49,064 for Nepal, 81,618 for Bangladesh and 100,868 for Pakistan. Age heaping was assessed by respondent's age, education level, sex and level of education. Whipple's index was calculated to assess systematic heaping on certain ages as a result of digit preference. Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India showed stronger preference for ages ending with the digits '0' and '5' compared with Pakistan and Nepal among uneducated respondents. On the other hand, strong avoidance of ages ending in the digits '1', '4' and '9' was observed in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India. However, urban–rural place of residence was not found to be associated with digit preference in the study countries. Among males, age misreporting with the final digits '0' and '5' was highest in Bangladesh, followed by Afghanistan and India, and Nepal showed the least displacement. Strong digit preference and avoidance, and upper age displacement, were witnessed in the surveys conducted in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India on the parameters of sex and education level. Innovative methods of data collection with the measurement and minimization of errors using statistical techniques should be used to ensure accuracy of age data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pearson's chi-squared test can detect outliers in the data distribution of a given set of histograms. However, in fields such as demographics (for e.g. birth years), outliers may be more easily found in terms of the histogram smoothness where techniques such as Whipple's or Myers' indices handle successfully only specific anomalies. This paper proposes smoothness outliers detection among histograms by using the relation between their discrete total variations (DTV) and their respective sample sizes. This relation is mathematically derived to be applicable in all cases and simplified by an accurate linear model. The deviation of the histogram's DTV from the value predicted by the model is used as the outlier score and the proposed method is named Total Variation Outlier Recognizer (TVOR). TVOR requires no prior assumptions about the histograms' samples' distribution, it has no hyperparameters that require tuning, it is not limited to only specific patterns, and it is applicable to histograms with the same bins. Each bin can have an arbitrary interval that can also be unbounded. TVOR finds DTV outliers easier than Pearson's chi-squared test. In case of distribution outliers, the opposite holds. TVOR is tested on real census data and it successfully finds suspicious histograms. The source code is given at https://github.com/DiscreteTotalVariation/TVOR.

Age structure is crucial to various socio-economic and demographic factors. Better age quality data are critical to determine the reliability of large scale household surveys and the estimates they provide. Considering the importance and large sample these household surveys represent, we examined one of India's largest household survey (NFHS) to determine its data quality and accuracy. Using multiple indices we also made a comparison of various age reporting measures to assess pattern of age heaping. Our results found that age heaping is a gray concern for household surveys in India. Though there has been some improvement, but over all age quality data are still very rough, affecting likely the survey estimates. Females are performing better on contrary to what earlier studies have found, which is likely due to improving socio-cultural and living norms in Indian settings. It is clear that age preference can likely cause the substantial biases in demographic factors and survey estimates. Thus studies examining age structure or any such methods where age is significantly important should adjust the age bias before carrying out further analysis. Furthermore, a single approach for age adjustment techniques is must to improve the age quality data for better policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: While it is suspected that some ages were misreported during the 2014-2016 West African ebola outbreak, an analysis examining age data quality has not been conducted. The study objective was to examine age heaping and terminal digit preference as indicators for quality of age data collected in the Sierra Leone Ebola Database (SLED). METHODS: age data quality for adult patients was analyzed within SLED for the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) database and the laboratory testing dataset by calculating Whipple´s index and Myers´s blended index, stratified by sex and region. RESULTS: age data quality was low in both the VHF database (Whipple´s index for the 5-year range, 229.2) and the laboratory testing dataset (Whipple´s index for the 5-year range, 236.4). Age was reported more accurately in the Western area and least accurately in the Eastern Province. Age data for females were less accurate than for males. CONCLUSION: age data quality was low in adult patients during the 2014-2016 ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, which may reduce its use as an identifying or stratifying variable. These findings inform future analyses using this database and describe a phenomenon that has relevance in data collection methods and analyses for future outbreaks in developing countries.

This article presents new evidence and analysis on age heaping—a proxy for numeracy and therefore for human capital—in New Spain during the Enlightenment. Human capital plays an important role in economic growth and welfare. It is also one of the dimensions of inequality. Our results are at odds with many of the usual assumptions on which most Mexicanist historiography is based. Age heaping levels of males and females and ethnic groups across locations in Central New Spain are estimated and compared through ad hoc indicators with other countries. We infer that a more empirical emphasis on the institutional legacy of the viceregal period and more attention to human capital since pre-Conquest times will benefit the progress of Hispanic American economic history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age, as a variable, represents a critical basis for demographic classification; thus, its misrepresentations or misreporting alter the accuracy of demographic estimates. This paper examines the extent and pattern of age heaping in the age data for adults, collected in the Nigerian Demographic Health Survey (NDHS). The study used the NDHS data for 2003, 2008, and 2013 to compute a Whipple's and Meyers' blended index for each survey year, by gender, geopolitical zones, states and place of residence. The analysis shows that age heaping was higher than the acceptable levels in all three data sets. The Whipple's index puts the rate of age heaping in the 2003 dataset at 271.3, whilst the rates declined slightly in the 2008 and 2013 datasets to reach 204.2 and 202.5 respectively. Similarly, the Myers' blended index portrayed that age heaping in the 2003 data was highest at 47.0 while the subsequent years were lower at 38.60 and 38.66, respectively. Digits ending in 0 and 5 were mostly reported in all three surveys and higher rates of age heaping were observed among males, the uneducated and rural dwellers. Age heaping was prominent in all three surveys, thus affecting the data quality gathered at these surveys. Thus, future studies should assess the extent to which age misreporting could bias the estimate of fertility rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: while it is suspected that some ages were misreported during the 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak, an analysis examining age data quality has not been conducted. The study objective was to examine age heaping and terminal digit preference as indicators for quality of age data collected in the Sierra Leone Ebola Database (SLED). Methods: age data quality for adult patients was analyzed within SLED for the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) database and the laboratory testing dataset by calculating Whipple´s index and Myers´s blended index, stratified by sex and region. Results: age data quality was low in both the VHF database (Whipple´s index for the 5-year range, 229.2) and the laboratory testing dataset (Whipple´s index for the 5-year range, 236.4). Age was reported more accurately in the Western Area and least accurately in the Eastern Province. Age data for females were less accurate than for males. Conclusion: age data quality was low in adult patients during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, which may reduce its use as an identifying or stratifying variable. These findings inform future analyses using this database and describe a phenomenon that has relevance in data collection methods and analyses for future outbreaks in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Age is an important variable in epidemiological studies and an invariable part of community-based study reports. Aims: The aim was to assess the accuracy of age data collected during community surveys. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was designed in rural areas of the Yavatmal district. Materials and Methods: Age data were collected by a house-to-house survey in six villages. An open-ended questionnaire was used for data collection. Statistical Analysis: Age heaping and digit preference were measured by calculating Whipple′s index and Myers′ blended index. Age Ratio Scores (ARS) and Age Accuracy Index (AAI) were also calculated. Results: Whipple′s index for the 10-year age range, i.e., those reporting age with terminal digit "0" was 386.71. Whipple′s index for the 5-year range, i.e., those reporting age with terminal digit ′0′ or ′5′ was 382.74. Myer′s blended index calculated for the study population was 41.99. AAI for the population studied was 14.71 with large differences between frequencies of males and females at certain ages. Conclusion: The age data collected in the survey were of very poor quality. There was age heaping at ages with terminal digits ′0′ and ′5′, indicating a preference in reporting such ages and 42% of the population reported ages with an incorrect final digit. Innovative methods in data collection along with measuring and minimizing errors using statistical techniques should be used to ensure the accuracy of age data which can be checked using various indices.

The article deals with the question of using the censuses carried out by the Civilian-Military Order Commission of the Cracow Voivodeship as a source for demographic research exemplified by the Proszowice County. The censuses were conducted in the years 1790–1792 and were not tax character, hence they are commonly considered to be more precise and reliable than the ones conducted earlier. The article presents the specific character of the sources of that kind and the resulting difficulties such as passing over part of the population, terminological complexities, unclear division into households. A lot of attention has been paid to the assessment of the credibility of historical sources, with such indicators as the percentage of the youngest children and old people in the population or the male sex ratio in newborn babies. The analyses of age heaping has been carried out with the use of the of Whipple’s and Myers’ indexes. The conclusions indicate that the censuses – especially in the parts concerning age analysis – turn out to be a problematic sources, yet some of their short comings might be overcome when appropriate statistical methods have been applied. Frequent age heaping is not decisive factors in the credibility of the census; what should be decisive is the analysis of the whole – the amount of the information in the census, diligence and accuracy, and compatibility with other sources, e.g. the Poniatowski census of 1787.

In certain countries population data are available in grouped form only, usually as quinquennial age groups plus a large open-ended range for the elderly. However, official statistics call for data by individual age since many statistical operations, such as the calculation of demographic indicators, require the use of ungrouped population data. In this paper a number of mathematical models are proposed which, starting from population data given in age groups, enable these ranges to be degrouped into age-specific population values without leaving a fractional part. Unlike other existing procedures for disaggregating demographic data, ours makes it possible to process several years' data simultaneously in a coherent way, and provides accurate results longitudinally as well as transversally. This procedure is also shown to be helpful in dealing with degrouped population data affected by noise, such as those affected by the age-heaping phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the erroneous age reporting, there are several methods available depending on the type of age statistics used. For instance, for single year age-sex distributions, conventionally, Whipple and Whipple type, Myers' and Bachi index are available. All these measures are based on the assumption of linearity in terms of mathematical structuring used for the development of indexes. This paper extends the modified Whipple index as a general measure of the quality of age reporting in complement to Spoorenberg's previous development (2007). When compared to Spoorenberg's version, the proposed total further modified is observed to be an-easy to estimate measure than total modified Whipple measure. In addition, proposed measure is also based on the assumption of linearity. Notably proposed index produces practically the same results and direction of error as Myer's, Whipple, Whipple type, and modified Whipple index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histograms of push-ups and curl-ups from a sample of more than 9,000 students show periodic spikes at five and 10 unit intervals. This article argues that these spikes are related to focal points, a game theoretic concept popularized by Nobel Laureate Thomas Schelling. Being focal on one test makes one more likely to be focal on the other. Focal students (whose push-up score is a multiple of 5 and whose curl-up score is a multiple of 10) behave differently from their non-focal peers. They are more likely athletic, older, and male. Focal students, on average, did 2.2 more push-ups, 1.7 more curl-ups, and ran the mile 15 seconds faster than non-focal students, even controlling for these covariates of performance. By contrast, being focal on a single activity did not produce a statistically significant mile time difference. Students who systematically stop at focal outcomes appear differentially motivated toward physical activity performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian & Latin American Economic History is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Outlines the development of gender disparities in education for 28 Latin American and Caribbean countries, 1880-1949, using age heaping techniques. The authors explore in particular the hypothesis of a U-shaped development of women's education during economic development, that is, a decrease in gender equality at lower levels of overall education and increasing gender equality at higher levels. For the downward sloping part, one finds some evidence, although this part is relatively small. The upward sloping part is strongly confirmed. Non-Hispanic Caribbean countries had substantially lower gender inequality rates than Latin American countries.

The article discusses the relatively high standard of living in the era between the Middle Ages and the turn of the 18th century as owing in large part to educational attainment, which itself is problematic to measure from data. The authors propose a statistical method to determine numeracy, rather that literacy based on signed documents. Distortions in reporting and rounding of ages ("age heaping") are explained as arising from educational level, infant protein deprivation, and exposure to Bible-reading in Protestantism. Early Modern census data from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, are examined in an exemplary case study.

The 1851 Census of Religious Worship contains an excess of "round" numbers reported for congregation sizes, which indicates that estimates (as opposed to exact head counts) were often returned. The authors estimate the proportion of rounded estimates returned by the Church of England and the dissenting denominations. They develop a structural equation model to estimate for the mean degree of inflation (i.e., overestimation) that resulted from rounding. Anglican figures were most likely inflated by approximately 11 percent, whereas the corresponding figure for dissent was approximately 5.5 percent. The authors examine what sort of counting behavior could have led to such margins of inflation, and why denominational differences exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A complicating factor for child marriage in Bangladesh is age heaping or digital preference, where young girls misreport their age, claiming to be older or younger than they are. Analysis based on four nationally representative cross-sectional surveys over the last 10 years has shown that the age adjusted results are similar to the reported age results in terms of the direction of the associated socioeconomic factors; however, their effect sizes have changed. Data from 2004 to 2014 of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) were used and cumulative link mixed models (CLMM) were fitted to ascertain the risk factors by adjusting cluster effects, where the outcome variable was categorized by women's age of marriage (ordinal in nature). Even after age adjustment, education of respondents and their partners, age of both the head of the house and their partner, and the geographic division showed a significant association in all surveys. Although the year wise effect showed significant improvement over the years in pooled data, the rate of improvement was not encouraging. Notable cluster (or community) level variations have been observed over the years, indicating that community specific factors such as regional culture and local environments should be considered during the intervention design. • Adjusted age misreporting of women reporting their age for assessing child marriage in Bangladesh • Age adjustment does not change the severity of child marriage in Bangladesh. • Community level variations were found significant in the results. • Significant improvements were observed over the years, but the rate is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]