Recode6 DHS 22march2013 DHSG4
Recode6 DHS 22march2013 DHSG4
Recode6 DHS 22march2013 DHSG4
for DHS 6
This document is part of the Demographic and Health Surveys DHS Toolkit of methodology
for the MEASURE DHS Phase III project, implemented from 2008-2013.
This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID). It was prepared by MEASURE DHS/ICF International.
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Description
of the
Individual Recode
Data File
DHS VI
Version 1.0
In a majority of DHS surveys eligible individuals include women of reproductive age (15-49) and men age
15-59, or in some cases 15-54. In some countries only women are interviewed. Individual questionnaires
include information on fertility, family planning and maternal and child health. Data are available from DHS
for each of these surveys by request through the mail or from our web site at www.measuredhs.com. Data
from DHS surveys are produced in both raw and recode formats. A raw data file includes the data as they
were collected, without any structural changes. These files are generally not distributed, but they are also
available on request. A recode data file is in a standardized format, with the same structure across countries
participating in each DHS phase. This standardization is meant to facilitate comparisons across surveys. This
document describes the standard recode defined for the sixth round of DHS surveys (DHS VI). Recode
structures are defined for households, women and men.
DHS also collects data using other types of surveys and questionnaires. These include surveys of education,
health service providers, communities, household health expenditures, young adults, and others. These data
are also available, but there are no recode definitions for them.
Data Archive,
Demographic and Health Surveys - MEASURE DHS
Table of Contents
General Description ........................................................................................................................................ 1
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1
Rationale for Recoding ................................................................................................................. 1
Data File Structure ........................................................................................................................ 2
Coding Standards .......................................................................................................................... 3
Respondent Identification ............................................................................................................. 4
Record Identification..................................................................................................................... 4
Survey Identification ..................................................................................................................... 4
Century Month Code..................................................................................................................... 5
Imputed Dates ............................................................................................................................... 5
Model Questionnaires ................................................................................................................... 7
Section and Variable Descriptions ................................................................................................ 7
i
General Description
Introduction
This document contains two parts. The first part is a general discussion of the recode file, including the
rationale for recoding; description of the physical structure in which the recode file is available; coding
standards used in the data file; location of identification information; use of century month codes for dates and
imputation of partial dates; DHS model questionnaires; sections and occurrences. The second part provides a
description of each variable in the data file, giving additional information that is not available in the
dictionary.
Documentation Note
In addition to documenting the DHS VI Individual Recode Data File, this document also highlights the
changes from the DHS V Individual Recode Data File. Additions to the DHS V dictionary are shown in red
text, and deletions are shown with a strikethrough.
- First, dates for several key events are imputed as much analysis of the data is based on these events
and their dates are often incomplete or missing. The imputed dates are included in the data file to
allow analysts to produce results consistent with those published by DHS and to save analysts the
time and trouble of creating their own imputation schemes.
- Second, variables as collected in the original questionnaire are in a form convenient for collection
but not always for analysis. Often the same question is asked in several places in the questionnaire,
but to different respondents. In the recode file these variables are combined and created in a form
that is easy to use for analysis.
- Third, summary variables are often necessary in analysis and many of these, including the summary
variables that are used in the DHS reports, are included in the recode file.
- Fourth, certain indices, particularly the anthropometric indices from the height and weight data, are
calculated from the data and included in the recode file.
- Finally, and in many ways most importantly, the data in the recode file are in a standardized format
allowing easy comparison of data between countries.
The DHS approach to creating standardized individual recode data files for each country is part of the DHS
policy to make the data accessible, providing the analyst with the data in the most convenient form for
analysis. This approach, while providing easy access to the data, is not without its pitfalls. DHS strongly
suggests that analysts become familiar with the questionnaires used in the surveys they are analyzing.
The questionnaires used in one country, while containing essentially the same information, may be different
in many ways from those used in another country. In creating the standardized individual recode data files
these differences require special consideration and total standardization is obviously not possible. The recode
data file is structured in two parts, standard sections and country-specific sections. The standard sections
contain the same variables in the same positions for all countries. The country-specific sections contain all
variables specific to the country and so are not standardized across countries.
Flat Each record of the data file represents one case (respondent), with all variables being placed
one after the other on the same record. The repeating sections of the recode file are placed
one after the other on the record, with the maximum number of occurrences of each section
being represented in the data file. Each variable in a repeating section is placed immediately
after the preceding variable of the same occurrence, such that all variables for occurrence 1
precede all variables for occurrence 2 of a section. For example, in the birth history BIDX,
BORD, B0, B1 etc. for the first occurrence appear followed by the second occurrence of
BIDX, BORD, B0, B1 etc. The length of the records in the data file is fixed, exceeding 4000
characters in total. The total size of the data file is on average approximately 40M bytes,
depending on the sample size, with the largest files being over 380 M bytes in size. The flat
file is designed for users using statistical packages that only support data structures
containing a fixed number of records per case. This format is similar to the format of the
World Fertility Survey standard recode files. An SPSS/PC+, SAS or STATA data file
description is distributed with this file format.
Hierarchical In the hierarchical data structure, records exist only for the occurrences of the sections that
are necessary. As an example, if a woman has 6 children there will be 6 records in the birth
history section. The total size of the file is approximately 25 M bytes, depending on the
sample size, with the largest files being over 265 M bytes in size. The hierarchical data
structure is designed for use with CSPro and is distributed with a CSPro dictionary.
BLANK Variable is not applicable for this respondent either because the question was not
asked in a particular country or because the question was not asked of this
respondent due to the flow or skip pattern of the questionnaire.
9999, 999, 99, 9 This question should have been answered by the respondent, but the questionnaire
contained no information for this variable (missing data).
9998, 998, 98, 8 The respondent replied "Don't know" to this question.
9997, 997, 97, 7 The answer to this question was inconsistent with other responses in the
questionnaire and it was thought that this response was probably in error. The
response was changed to this code to avoid further problems due to inconsistency of
information. This usually takes place during the secondary editing stage of data
processing.
In addition a code of 0 is generally used as a negative response in the data file. For example, "No education"
is coded 0 for V106, "No problem" is coded 0 for V467A, and a simple response of "No" is coded 0 in all
standard sections of the data file. In the country-specific sections of the data file, variables are generally
coded in the same way as they were on the questionnaire and a "No" answer usually has code 0.
In certain questions a two-digit coding scheme is used in which the first digit, representing the major coding
category, is standard, but the second digit is country-specific. This applies to questions such as those relating
to water source, toilet facilities, and source of contraception. For example, for source of contraception the
major categories are:
1 Public Sector
2 Private Medical Sector
3 Other Private Sector
4 Other
The coding scheme for V326 (last source of contraception for current users of modern methods) might use
codes such as:
11 Government hospital
12 Government health center
...
21 Private hospital or clinic
22 Private doctor
...
31 Shop
...
In the above coding scheme, the first digit is the standard major category; the second digit is country-specific.
Record Identification
For hierarchical data files, each record has an identifying code in character positions 16-17 of the record.
This record identification identifies the section of the data file that is contained on the record (e.g., 21 for the
birth history). Repeating sections will have the same record identification for each occurrence of the section,
and a variable following the record identification in each section, specifies which occurrence of the section
the record represents.
Survey Identification
For each survey there is a two-character alphabetic country identification code plus a one-digit data structure
code in variable V000. The variable V000 occupies positions 16-18 of the record for flat files, and positions
18-20 of the first record of the hierarchical data files. The one-digit data structure code is always 6 for DHS
VI surveys, except for those DHS VI surveys that used DHS V model questionnaires/recode structure (5).
The country codes are as follows:
DHS VI:
Afghanistan AF Haiti HT Niger NI
Angola AO Honduras HN Nigeria NG
Armenia AM India IA Pakistan PK
Azerbaijan AZ Indonesia ID Peru PE
Bangladesh BD Jordan JO Rwanda RW
Benin BJ Kenya KE Senegal SN
Burundi BU Kyrgyz Republic KY South Africa ZA
Cambodia KH Lao People's Dem. Rep. LA Swaziland SZ
Colombia CO Lesotho LS Tajikistan TJ
Congo (Brazzaville) CG Liberia LB Tanzania TZ
Congo Dem. Rep. CD Madagascar MD Timor-Leste TP
Cote d'Ivoire CI Malawi MW Uganda UG
Egypt EG Mali ML Yemen YE
Ethiopia ET Mauritania MR Zambia ZM
Gabon GA Mozambique MZ Zimbabwe ZW
Gambia GM Namibia NM
Guinea GN Nepal NP
To calculate the month and year from the CMC use the following formulae:
YY = int((CMC - 1) / 12)
MM = CMC - (YY * 12)
To calculate the month and year from the CMC use the following formulae:
Imputed Dates
For key events in the respondent's life, dates have been imputed when the full date of the event was not
provided by the respondent or in some cases if dates are inconsistent (e.g. less than 7 months between births).
These events are the date of birth of the respondent, the date of first union or marriage, the date of birth of
each child of the respondent, the date of conception of the current pregnancy (based on the duration of
pregnancy), the date of start of use of current method, and the date of the interview. For each of these dates
only the imputed data are available in the recode data file, but a date flag has been included in the file to show
what format the information was in prior to imputation, and what basis was used for the imputation. The
codes for this date flag are as follows:
1 Both month and year of the event were specified and so no imputation was necessary.
2 The year of the event was not given, but the month of the event and the age of the respondent
or child or, in the case of the date of first union, the respondent's age at first union were
specified. In most cases this information uniquely identifies the exact date of the event. In a
few cases the year of the event was imputed from a choice of two possible years.
3 The year of the event, but not the month, and the age of the respondent or child or, in the
case of the date of first union, the respondent's age at first union were specified and only the
month of the event was imputed.
4 The year of birth, but not the month, and the age of the respondent or child were specified.
However, in surveys where it is believed the year of birth is calculated from the age, the year
of birth is ignored when the year of birth plus the age add up to the year of interview.
5 The year of the event was given but the month of the event was not specified, and neither
was the age. The month of the event was imputed.
6 Neither the month nor the year of the event were specified, but age was given and the year
and month of the event were imputed from the age.
7 Only the month of the event was given, without the year or age. The year of the event was
imputed from other information. (For current pregnancy, duration of pregnancy was given.)
For the date of conception of the current pregnancy, only codes 7 and 8 are used. The date of
interview is required to be fully specified in all cases and so no imputation is necessary for this
variable and no format flag exists for the date of interview.
A full description of the imputation process is given in the DHS Data Processing Manual.
In the variable description section that follows, the column labeled "Model" indicates in which questionnaire
the question is asked. An "A" indicates that the variable refers to a question asked only in countries that used
a Model "A" questionnaire, and a "B" indicates that the variable relates to a question asked only in countries
that used the Model "B" questionnaire. If the column is blank, then the question is asked in both Model "A"
and Model "B" questionnaires. If the column contains an "X", then the question is not included in either of
the Model questionnaires, but was used in a sufficient number of surveys to justify its inclusion as a standard
variable. If the column contains "MM", then the questions come from the maternal mortality module. If the
column contains "FG", then the questions come from the female genital cutting module.
Multiple sections are used to represent sets of questions that are repeated for a number of events. The birth
history is an example of a multiple section, where questions relating to children are asked for each child, and
each child has an entry in the birth history. Each entry in the multiple section is known as an occurrence of
the section. In hierarchical data files each occurrence of the section occupies a separate record. Multiple
sections are used for sets of questions where the number of occurrences may vary.
In contrast, sets of questions for which there are a fixed number of occurrences are held in a group. A group
is similar to a multiple section, but is stored on a single record for hierarchical files. In addition single
variables may also be included in a section containing a group. In the recode file the contraceptive table
(REC31) is stored as a group containing 20 entries, one for each contraceptive method. For the flat files there
is no difference between groups and multiple sections.
The section description is followed by variable descriptions. The variable descriptions provide additional
background information relating to each variable.
HHID Case identification uniquely identifies each household. In most surveys this is constructed
by concatenating the cluster or sample point number and the household number, but in some
surveys this may be the questionnaire number taken from the front page of the questionnaire.
HV000 Alphabetic country code to identify the survey from which the data were collected. The code
is based on an international standard code. This variable is 3 characters in length, with the
third character indicating the format of the recode file used for this survey. For all surveys in
DHS VI following this standard, this code will be 6. For example: DR6 is the Dominican
Republic, HT6 is Haiti and KH6 is Cambodia.
HV001 Cluster number is the number identifying the sample point as used during the fieldwork.
This variable may be a composite of several variables in the questionnaire. If so, the non-
standard variables are included in RECH3 as country-specific variables.
HV002 Household number is the number identifying the household within the cluster or sample
point. In some cases, this variable may be the combination of dwelling number and
household number within dwelling. In these cases, the dwelling number is included as
country-specific variable.
HV003 Respondent's line number is the line number in the household schedule of the person
responding to the questions asked in the household questionnaire. If nobody in the
household was available for interview, this variable is coded 00.
HV004 Ultimate area unit is a number assigned to each sample point to identify the ultimate area
units used in the collection of data. This variable is usually the same as the cluster number,
but may be a sequentially numbered variable for samples with a more complicated structure.
HV005 Sample weight is an 8 digit variable with 6 implied decimal places. To use the sample
weight divide it by 1000000 before applying the weighting factor. All sample weights are
normalized such that the weighted number of cases is identical to the unweighted number of
households when using the full dataset with no selection. This variable should be used to
weight all tabulations produced using the data file. For self-weighting samples this variable
is equal to 1000000.
HV008 Century month code of date of interview (see note on century month codes).
HV009 Total number of household members indicates the number of entries to be found in RECH1.
HV010 Total number of eligible women indicates the number of women found eligible for the
individual survey in the household schedule. The eligibility criteria are generally: female,
aged between 15 and 49. In some countries, the eligibility criteria restrict the survey to ever-
married women.
HV011 Total number of eligible men indicates the number of men found eligible for the men's or
husband's survey in the household. The selection criteria are country-specific and will be
documented in the Household Recode Documentation for each country.
HV012 Total number of de jure household members gives the number of household members that
usually live in the household.
HV013 Total number of de facto household members gives the number of household members that
slept in the household the previous night, including visitors.
HV014 Number of children resident in the household and aged 5 and under. Visiting children are
not included.
HV015 Result of household interview. Code 1 represents a completed interview. For all other cases,
only RECH0 will exist in the data file. For flat format data files, cases with a result code
different than 1 are dropped from the file.
HV020 The ever-married sample indicator is a constant for all cases in the data file. For all woman
samples it is code 0, and for ever-married samples it is code 1.
HV021 Primary sampling unit is a number assigned to sample points to identify the primary
sampling units for use in the calculation of sampling errors. This variable is usually the
same as the cluster number and/or the ultimate area unit, but may differ if the sample design
required a multistage selection process.
HV022 The sample strata for sampling errors defines the pairings or groupings of primary sampling
units used in the calculation of sampling errors when using the Taylor series expansion
method (for example, with the package Clusters).
HV023 The stratification used in the sample design defines the basic geographic units within which
the sample was designed. For example, if the sample was designed to be self-weighting
within region, this variable would define those regions; if the sample was designed to be self-
weighting within major urban areas, other urban areas and rural areas, this variable would
define the major urban, other urban and rural areas. If the sample is self-weighted at the
national level, this variable is code 0.
HV024 Region of residence in which the household resides. Codes are country-specific.
HV025 Type of place of residence where the household resides as either urban or rural.
HV026 Size of place of residence is the type of place in which the household resides. Urban areas
are classified into large cities (capital cities and cities with over 1 million population), small
cities (population over 50,000), and towns (other urban areas), and all rural areas are
March 22, 2013 DHS VI Individual recode
10
Var Model Description
assumed to be countryside. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire,
but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
HV027 Selection for men's or husband's survey indicates whether the household was selected for the
subset of households in which the men's or husband's survey was administered. Code 1
indicates a mens survey and code 2 a husband's survey, while code 0 indicates the
household was not selected.
HV028 Sample weight for men's or husband's survey is an 8 digit variable with 6 implied decimal
places. To use the sample weight divide it by 1000000 before applying the weighting factor.
All sample weights are normalized such that the weighted number of cases is identical to the
unweighted number of households selected for the men's or husband's survey when using the
full dataset with no other selection. This variable should be used to weight all tabulations
produced using the households selected for the men's or husband's survey. For self-
weighting samples this variable is equal to 1000000. For households not included in the
men's or husband's survey sub-sample, this variable is set to zero.
HV033 Ultimate area unit selection probability is the probability of selection of the ultimate area
unit, ignoring the household selection. This variable can be used in conjunction with data for
the sample point, such as service availability data.
HV035 Number of children under five eligible for height and weight.
HV040 Cluster altitude in meters. Used to adjust the anemia measurement for altitude.
HV041 Number of women (and men) eligible for height and weight measured.
HV102 Whether the member is a de jure household member, i.e., whether the member is a usual
resident of the household.
HV103 Whether the member is a de facto household member, i.e., whether the member slept in the
household the previous night.
HV106 Highest level of education the household member attended. This is a standardized variable
providing level of education in the following categories: No education, Primary, Secondary,
and Higher. Any member below the lower age limit for the education questions is classified
in the "No education" category. Note that the lower age limit may be different from 6 years
in some countries. Country-specific categorizations of education are recorded in RECH3.
HV107 Highest year of education gives the years of education completed at the level given in
HV106.
BASE: All household members except those answering "No education" or with missing data
or the response "Don't know" for HV106 (HV106 <> 0 & HV106 <> 9 & HV106 <> 8).
HV108 Education in single years. This variable is constructed from the educational level (HV106)
and the grade at that level (HV107) as follows:
HV106 = > HV108
0 => 0
1 => HV107
2 => HV107+x
3 => HV107+y
9 => 99
x = years to complete primary education
y = years to complete primary and secondary education
where both x and y are country-specific.
HV109 Educational attainment recodes the education of the household member into the following
categories: None, incomplete primary, complete primary, incomplete secondary, complete
secondary, higher education. See related variables HV106, HV107, HV108.
HV110 Whether the household member is still in school. All members aged equal to or older than
the upper limit (usually 25 years) for this question or who have not attended school are coded
0 (Not in school). This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the
variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
HV112 Line number in the household of the mother of the member. This variable is code 00 if the
mother is not a member of the household.
BASE: All children in the household aged less than 17.
HV114 Line number in the household of the father of the member. This variable is code 00 if the
father is not a member of the household.
BASE: All children in the household aged less than 17.
HV116 Whether the household member is currently, formerly or never married (or lived with a
partner). Currently married includes married women and women living with a partner, and
formerly married includes widowed, divorced, separated women and women who have lived
with a partner but are not now living with a partner. In countries where the only question
asked relates to whether the household member is ever married, the responses are coded 2 for
ever married and 0 for never married.
HV117 Eligibility of the household member for the individual women's survey. This indicates the
women included in the individual recode. In most surveys, both de facto and non de facto
women are interviewed, however women are included in the individual recode only if they
were eligible for interview and were de facto members of the household. (A few surveys
used a de jure sample and this selection does not apply in those countries.)
HV118 Eligibility of the household member for the individual men's survey
HV123 Grade of education at the level of education attended during current school year.
HV125 Household member attended school during previous school year. This question is no longer
part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
HV126 Educational level attended during previous school year. This question is no longer part of the
DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
HV127 Grade of education at the educational level during previous school year. This question is no
longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
HV128 Education in single years during- previous school year. This question is no longer part of the
DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
HV130 Member has been very sick for 3+ months last year
HV131 Mother has been very sick for 3+ months last year.
HV132 Father has been very sick for 3+ months last year.
HV201 Major source of drinking water for members of the household. Individual codes are country-
specific, but the major categories are standard.
HV202 Major source of water for household use other than for drinking. Individual codes are
country-specific, but the major categories are standard.
HV204 Time taken to get to the water source for drinking water.
BASE: All respondents except those with drinking water either piped to, or available from a
well in, the residence, yard or plot or who use rainwater or bottled water (HV201 <> 11 &
HV201 <> 21 & HV201 <> 41 & HV201 <> 61). The actual selection criteria are country-
specific.
HV205 Type of toilet facility in the household. Individual codes are country-specific, but the major
categories are standard.
HV213 Main material of the floor. Individual codes are country-specific, but the major categories
are standard.
HV214 Main material of the walls. Individual codes are country-specific, but the major categories
are standard.
HV215 Main material of the roof. Individual codes are country-specific, but the major categories are
standard.
HV217 Relationship structure in the household describes the household composition in the following
categories: one adult, two related adults of the opposite sex, two related adults of the same
sex, three or more related adults, all other combinations. Only usual (de jure) members aged
15 and over are considered in determining the relationship structure.
HV218 Line number of head of household. This should always be 01, however there are some
households in certain surveys in which the head of household has not been listed as the first
person in the household listing.
HV219 Sex of head of household.
HV220 Age of head of household.
RECH4 Country-specific variables from the household schedule. Variable IDXH4 is always
included as the first variable in this section and is equal to HVIDX for each entry in the
household schedule.
HA35 Smoking.
Anemia testing:
HA52 Whether the consent to draw a droplet of blood was granted after reading a consent statement
to woman/parent/responsible adult.
HA53 Hemoglobin level in g/dl with 1 implied decimal.
HA54 Currently pregnant.
HA55 Result of Hemoglobin measuring.
HA56 Hemoglobin level adjusted by altitude in g/dl with 1 implied decimal.
HA57 Anemia level. Levels below 7.0 g/dl are considered as severe anemia, levels between 7.1g/dl
and 9.9g/dl are considered as moderate anemia and cases between 10.0 g/dl and 10.9 g/dl are
HIV testing:
HA61 Consent for HIV measurement is a combination of the responses to the consent statement
read to the respondent and to the parent or other adult identified as responsible for women
age 15-17 and never in a union.
HA62 Blood sample ID number
HA63 Result of measuring (HIV)
HA64 Consent for additional tests. This is a combination of the responses to the consent statement
for additional tests to the respondent and to the parent or other adult identified as responsible
for women age 15-17 and never in a union.
BASE: All women that granted consent for HIV testing
HC68 Highest educational level (Country specific for preliminary and final reports)
HC70 Height for age standard deviation (according to WHO)
HC71 Weight for age standard deviation (according to WHO)
HC72 Weight for height standard deviations (according to WHO)
HC73 BMI standard deviations (according to WHO)
The measures above were calculated using the new Child Growth Standards released by the
World Health Organization on April 27 2006. The new Standards are the result of an
intensive study initiated by WHO in 1997 to develop a new international standard for
assessing the physical growth nutritional status and motor development in all children from
birth to age five. WHO and its principal partner, the United Nations University, undertook a
Multi-centre Growth Reference Study which is a community-based, multi-country projects
involving more than eight thousand children from Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman, and
the United States of America. The measures are presented with two implied decimal places
(no decimal points are included in the data file). To produce the actual measure, divide the
variable by 100. If either the weight or the height of the child is missing then all of the
above measures are set to the missing code 9999 or 99999. If either the height or the weight
is outside of the acceptable range for the calculation of these measures then all of the above
measures are set to code 9998 or 99998.
HB13 In DHS VI the result of height and weight measurement is a combination of the
measurements of the respondents weight and height. All respondents weighing less than 400
kilos and with a height less than 2.20 meters are recorded as 0 (measured). When the
weight and height could not be collected because the respondent was not present, refused
or because of another reason this variable is set to 3, 4 and 6 respectively. When the
response to either the weight or the height is missing this variable is set to missing and in
all other cases to8.
HB35 Smoking
Anemia testing:
HB52 The consent for hemoglobin measurement is a combination of the responses to the
consent statement read to the respondent and to the parent or other adult identified as
responsible for men age 15-17 and never in a union.
HB53 Hemoglobin level (g/dl - 1 decimal)
HB55 Result of measuring (Hemoglobin)
HB56 Hemoglobin level adjusted by altitude (g/dl - 1 decimal)
HB57 Anemia level
HIV testing:
HB61 Consent for HIV measurement. This is a combination of the responses to the consent
statement read to the respondent and to the parent or other adult identified as responsible
for men age 15-17 and never in a union.
HB62 Blood sample ID number
HB63 Result of measuring (HIV)
HB64 Consent for additional tests. This is a combination of the responses to the consent
statement read to the respondent and to the parent or other adult identified as responsible
for men age 15-17 and never in a union.
HB68 Highest educational level (Country specific for preliminary and final report)
HD100 Sex.
HD101 Age.
Section HSK (RECHOV) Support for Orphans and Vulnerable Childrens Variables
CASEID Case identification, used to uniquely identify each respondent. In most surveys this is
constructed by concatenating the cluster or sample point number, the household number and
the respondent's line number, but in some surveys this may be the questionnaire number
taken from the front page of the questionnaire.
V000 Alphabetic country code to identify the survey from which the data were collected. The
code is based on an international standard code. This variable is 3 characters in length,
with the third character indicating the format of the recode file used for this survey. For
all surveys in DHS VI this code will be 6. For example: BJ6 is Benin, KH6 is
Cambodia, CO6 is Colombia.
V001 Cluster number is the number identifying the sample point as used during the fieldwork.
This variable may be a composite of several variables in the questionnaire. If so, the original
variables are included in REC91 as country-specific variables.
V002 Household number is the number identifying the household in which the respondent was
interviewed, within the sample point. In some cases, this variable may be the combination of
dwelling number and household number within dwelling. In these cases, the original
variables are included as country-specific variables.
V004 Ultimate area unit is a number assigned to each sample point to identify the ultimate area
units used in the collection of data. This variable is usually the same as the cluster number,
but may be a sequentially numbered variable for samples with a more complicated structure.
V005 Sample weight is an 8 digit variable with 6 implied decimal places. To use the sample
weight divide it by 1000000 before applying the weighting factor. All sample weights are
normalized such that the weighted number of cases is identical to the unweighted number of
cases when using the full dataset with no selection. This variable should be used to weight
all tabulations produced using the data file. For self-weighting samples this variable is equal
to 1000000.
V012 Current age in completed years is calculated from the century month code of the date of birth
of the respondent (V011) and the century month code of the date of interview (V008). In a
few cases the age in the data file will be different from that reported by the respondent when
the respondent's birthday was in the month of interview, but she had not yet had her birthday.
If the respondent correctly reported her age at her last birthday (and not her age at her next
birthday) then the calculated age was rounded up from the reported age, to avoid
inconsistencies between the age and the century month code for the birth.
V014 Completeness of information for the date of birth of the respondent (see note on imputed
dates)
V015 Result of individual interview. Code 1 represents a completed interview. For all other cases,
only REC01 will exist in the data file. For flat format data files, cases with a result code
different than 1 are dropped from the file.
V017 Century month code for the first month of the calendar. This is constant for all cases and is
the century month code of January of the first year of the calendar.
V018 Row of calendar representing the month of interview. The calendar is numbered from 1 to
80, with month 80 being January of the first year of the calendar. This variable is coded 0
for incomplete interviews.
V019 A Records the length of the calendar to use for this case. V019 is equal to 80-V018+1. This
variable is coded 0 for incomplete interviews.
V019A Number of calendar columns. In the model B questionnaire only 1 column is used and 4
columns in the model A questionnaire.
V020 The ever-married sample indicator is a constant for all cases in the data file. For all woman
samples it is code 0, and for ever-married samples it is code 1.
V021 Primary sampling unit is a number assigned to sample points to identify the primary
sampling units for use in the calculation of sampling errors. This variable is usually the
same as the cluster number and/or the ultimate area unit, but may differ if the sample design
required a multistage selection process.
V022 Sample strata for sampling errors defines the pairings or groupings of primary sampling units
used in the calculation of sampling errors when using the Taylor series expansion method.
V023 The stratification used in the sample design defines the basic geographic units within which
the sample was designed. For example, if the sample was designed to be self-weighting
within region, this variable would define those regions; if the sample was designed to be self-
weighting within major urban areas, other urban areas and rural areas, this variable would
define the major urban, other urban and rural areas. If the sample is self-weighted at the
national level, this variable is code 0.
V024 De facto region of residence is a copy of V101, added to this section to allow for analysis of
completion rates by region.
V025 De facto type of place of residence is a copy of V102, added to this section to allow for
analysis of completion rates by urban/rural residence.
V026 De facto place of residence is the type of place in which the respondent was interviewed.
This is a copy of V134, added to this section to allow for analysis of completion rates by
type of place of residence (Capital city, small town, town and countryside). This question is
no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in DHS VI the
recode.
V028 Interviewer identification code is a copy of V805. Codes are country-specific. This variable
occupies 3 digits.
V029 Data entry keyer code is a copy of V806. Codes are country-specific.
V033 Ultimate area unit selection probability is the probability of selection of the ultimate area
unit, ignoring the household selection. This variable can be used in conjunction with data for
the sample point, such as service availability data.
V034 Line number of husband as recorded in the household schedule. This variable can be used,
in conjunction with the cluster or sample point number and the household number to match
the women's data with the husbands' data, to allow for the analysis of couples.
V043 Selection for women's status module. This variable is set to not applicable in case there is no
womens status module.
V044 Selection for domestic violence module. This variable is set to not applicable in case there is
no domestic violence module.
V101 De facto region of residence. Region in which the respondent was interviewed. Codes are
country-specific. This variable is now two digits. For de jure region of residence, see V139.
V102 De facto type of place of residence. Type of place of residence where the respondent was
interviewed as either urban or rural. Note that this is not the respondent's own
categorization, but was created based on whether the cluster or sample point number is
defined as urban or rural. See also V134. For de jure type of place of residence, see V140.
V103 Childhood place of residence is classified into city, town and countryside as reported by the
respondent. In some countries, additional codes are used for capital/major cities (code 0) and
for abroad (code 4). This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the
variable is kept in DHS VI the recode.
V104 Number of years the respondent has lived in the village, town, or city where she was
interviewed. Visitors to the community are coded 96. This question is no longer part of the
DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
V105 Type of place of previous residence is coded as for V103. In some countries, additional
codes are used for capital/major cities (code 0) and for abroad (code 4). This question is no
longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: All respondents except those answering "Always" or "Visitor" to V104 (V104 <> 95
& V104 <> 96).
V106 Highest education level attended. This is a standardized variable providing level of
education in the following categories: No education, Primary, Secondary, and Higher. In
some countries the educational system does not fit naturally within this scheme and a
different categorization was used for the Final Report. In this case, this variable is
constructed as accurately as possible from the country's own scheme and the variable used
for the Final Report is included as a country-specific variable.
V107 Highest year of education gives the years of education completed at the level given in V106.
BASE: All respondents except those answering "No education" or with missing data for
V106 (V106 <> 0 & V106 <> 9).
V113 Major source of drinking water for members of the household. Individual codes are country-
specific, but the major categories are standard.
V115 Time taken to get to the water source for drinking water
BASE: All respondents except those with drinking water either piped to, or available from a
well in, the residence, yard or plot, or who use rainwater or bottled water (V113 <> 11 &
V113 <> 21 & V113 <> 41 & V113 <> 61). The actual selection criteria is country-specific.
V116 Type of toilet facility in the household. Individual codes are country-specific, but the major
categories are standard.
V121 A television
V122 A refrigerator
V127 Main material of the floor. Individual codes are country-specific, but the major categories
are standard.
V128 Main material of the walls. Individual codes are country-specific, but the major categories
are standard.
V129 Main material of the roof. Individual codes are country-specific, but the major categories are
standard.
V130 Religion. Both the question and the codes are country-specific.
V131 Ethnicity. Both the question and the codes are country-specific.
V133 Education in single years. This variable is constructed from the educational level (V106)
and the grade at that level (V107) as follows:
V106 = > V133
0 => 0
1 => V107
2 => V107+x
3 => V107+y
9 => 99
x = years to complete primary education
y = years to complete primary and secondary education
where both x and y are country-specific.
V134 De facto place of residence is the type of place in which the respondent was interviewed.
Urban areas are classified into large cities (capital cities and cities with over 1 million
population), small cities (population over 50,000), and towns (other urban areas), and all
rural areas are assumed to be countryside. Note that this classification differs from that used
in DHS I. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable
is kept in the DHS VI recode.
V135 Whether the respondent is a usual resident of the household or is just visiting the household.
Responses of "Visitor" to V104 are visitors to the city, town or village where the interview
took place, but V135 shows respondents who were visitors to the household.
V136 Total number of household members is the number of usual residents plus the number of
visitors who slept in the house the previous night that were listed in the household schedule.
V137 Number of children resident in the household and aged 5 and under. Visiting children are
not included.
V138 Number of eligible women in the household. Eligible women are usually defined to be
women aged 15-49 who slept in the household the previous night, irrespective of whether
they usually reside in the household or are visiting the household. In some countries an ever-
married sample is used for the individual interview, and so the eligibility criteria is further
restricted to ever-married women.
V139 De jure region of usual residence. For de facto region of residence, see V101.
V140 De jure type of place of usual residence. For de facto type of place of residence, see V102.
V141 De jure place of residence. In most countries, no differentiation is made between large cities
and small cities in this variable.
V149 Educational achievement recodes the education of the respondent into the following
categories: None, incomplete primary, complete primary, incomplete secondary, complete
secondary, higher education. See related variables V106, V107, V133.
V150 Relationship to the head of the household. These data are taken from the household
schedule.
V151 Sex of the head of the household
V152 Age of the head of the household
Variables AWFACTT to AWFACTE are standard inflation factors to be applied to the denominators
when using ever-married samples to produce estimates for all women. To produce theses estimates
for all women it is necessary to apply the inflation factors to account for the proportion of women
who were never married. Each factor is stored in 5-digit variables, with two implied decimal places.
A value of 00128 means an inflation factor of 1.28 should be applied to the individual case to allow
for never- married women. This means that for every 100 ever-married women found in the
household schedule of a particular age and with the same background characteristic, there are 128
women in total, i.e. 100 ever-married women plus 28 never-married women. These inflation factors
are used in the calculation of fertility rates, median ages at first union and first birth, mean number of
children ever born, and other all-woman-based estimates. Note that these inflation factors do not
need to be used when the denominator for an estimate only includes women who have ever been
married. Four standard factors are produced for ever-married samples. Additional factors may
appear as country-specific inflation factors if they were calculated to produce tabulations for the final
report of a particular country. Country-specific variables are located in REC91.
V155 Literacy indicates whether a respondent who attended primary schooling can read a whole or
part of a sentence showed. A respondent who attended secondary education or higher are
coded 2 as well as respondent who could read a whole sentence.
V156 Ever participated in a literacy program or any other program that involves learning to read
and write (not including primary school). This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BIDX Birth history index numbers the entries in the birth history from 1 to n, where the nth birth is
the first birth.
BORD Birth order number gives the order in which the children were born and so is the reverse
order from BIDX.
B0 Twin code gives an order number for each child of a multiple birth. Code 0 indicates a
single birth, code 1-upwards give the number of the child. Twins are ordered in the birth
history with the higher twin codes appearing before the lower twin codes. See the example
of the birth history structure below.
B3 Century month code for the date of birth of the child (see note on century month codes).
B4 Sex of child
B6 Age at death of the child as reported in the questionnaire. The first digit of the age at death
gives the units in which it was reported: 1 - Days, 2 - Months, 3 - Years, 9 - Special
responses. The last two digits give the age at death in those units. Age at death is usually
reported in days if it was less than one month, in months if it was less than two years and
otherwise in years. If the last two digits contain a value greater than 90 then this is a special
response. For example, 298 means the age at death was a number of months, and the exact
number was unknown, but lies between 1 and 23 months.
BASE: Dead children (B5 = 0).
B7 Age at death of the child in completed months gives a calculated age at death from the
reported information. If it was reported in days these are truncated to completed months, if
reported in months these are used directly, but if reported in years then truncated years are
used, i.e., 3 years becomes 36 months. For ages at death that were not specified, an age at
death is imputed using a hot deck approach by taking the same age at death as the last child
encountered of the same birth order in the data file. This variable is no longer truncated at 90
months and now occupies three digits.
BASE: Dead children (B5 = 0).
B8 Current age of the child in single years for all living children
BASE: Living children (B5 = 1).
B9 The person the child usually lives with. The Respondent is coded 0, father coded 1, other
relatives coded 2, other people coded 3, and children aged 15 and over who were not asked
who they live with are coded 4. Note that this coding is different from DHS I.
BASE: Living children (B5 = 1).
B10 Completeness of information for the date of birth of the child (see note on imputed dates).
Codes are different from the codes used in DHS I.
B11 Preceding birth interval is calculated as the difference in months between the current birth
and the previous birth, counting twins as one birth.
BASE: All births except the first birth and its twins.
B12 Succeeding birth interval is calculated as the difference in months between the current birth
and the following birth, counting twins as one birth.
BASE: All births except the last birth and its twins.
B15 Whether there were any other live births in the interval between the birth and the previously
reported birth.
Note: Variables B14 and B15 are questions used in the interview to try and ascertain if the
respondent had omitted any live births while reporting her birth history. The birth history
may have been modified during the interviewing process, and the responses may not now
correspond to the interval between the birth and the preceding birth recorded in this section.
the data have been included to help indicate cases where the respondent may have omitted
live births while originally reporting the birth history. The omitted births should be included
in this final version of the birth history.
In this example there are five children, including a pair of twins. There are two boys and three girls. One of
the boys has died 6 months after he was born, four of the other living children live with their mother and the
other is living elsewhere. Exact dates of birth were available for all the children. The birth intervals are
calculated between births excluding children of multiple births. For example the preceding interval for the
first entry is the difference between the CMC for the first entry and the third entry because the second entry is
a twin of the first entry.
V201 Total number of children ever born. If there are fewer than twenty births then this is the
same as V224 (Number of entries in the birth history), but if there are more than twenty
births then this gives the full number, while V224 will be 20.
V208 Total number of births in the last five years is defined as all births in the months 0 to 59 prior
to the month of interview, where month 0 is the month of interview.
V209 Total number of births in the past year is defined as all births in the months 0 to 12 (not
0 to 11) prior to the month of interview.
V210 Total number of births in the month of interview
V211 Century month code of the date of first birth is the same as B3 (V224).
BASE: All respondents with one or more births (V201 > 0).
V212 Age of the respondent at first birth is calculated from the CMC of the date of first birth and
the CMC of the date of birth of the respondent.
BASE: All respondents with one or more births (V201 > 0).
V214 Imputed duration of the current pregnancy. In the imputation process a date of conception of
the current pregnancy is calculated from the reported duration of the current pregnancy, if
known, or imputed from other available information (see note on imputed dates). The
imputed duration of pregnancy is then calculated from that date of conception.
BASE: Currently pregnant women (V213 = 1).
V215 Time since last menstrual period as reported by the respondent. The first digit gives the units
in which the response was given by the respondent: 1 - Days ago, 2 - Weeks ago, 3 - Months
ago, 4 - Years ago, 9 - Special answers. The last two digits give the time since the last
period in those units. If the last two digits contain a number greater than 90 then this is a
special response. For example, 199 means the response was in days but the number of days
was missing on the questionnaire.
V216 Whether the respondent menstruated in the last six weeks is calculated from V215.
V217 Knowledge of the ovulatory cycle indicates when during her monthly cycle the respondent
thinks a woman has the greatest chance of becoming pregnant.
V218 Total number of living children is the sum of variables V202 to V205.
V219 Total number of living children including current pregnancy is calculated from V218 by
adding 1 if the respondent is pregnant.
V220 Total number of living children including current pregnancy is a grouping of the previous
variable, truncating the number to 6 if it was greater than 6.
V221 Interval between the first marriage and first birth in months. If the first birth was prior to the
first marriage then this variable is coded 996 "Negative interval."
BASE: Ever-married women who have had one or more births (V501 > 0 & V201 > 0).
V222 Interval between the last birth and the date of the interview in months.
BASE: Respondents who have had one or more births (V201 > 0).
V223 Completeness of information relating to the date of conception of the current pregnancy.
This variable indicates whether the date of conception was exactly specified by the duration
of the current pregnancy or the duration was imputed from other information (see note on
imputed dates). Codes are different from those used in DHS I.
V224 Number of entries in the birth history (REC21). This variable is also the index to the first
birth in the birth history. If there are fewer than twenty births then this is the same as V201
(number of children ever born), but if there are more than twenty births then this will be 20,
while V201 gives the full number.
V225 At the time the respondent became pregnant with the current pregnancy, whether the current
pregnancy was wanted then, later or not at all.
BASE: Currently pregnant women (V213 = 1).
V226 Computed time since the last menstrual period. This is computed from the response for
V215, with durations exceeding the interval since the last birth (V227 = 7, 9) recoded to the
response "Before last birth" (code 995) and inconsistent responses flagged on variable V227
(codes 1-6) recoded to 997.
V227 Flag variable indicating inconsistencies found in editing the response for variable V215.
0 No flag
1 Duration given is greater than the interval since the last birth and the respondent did
not say, in the maternity section, that she was still amenorrheic since her last birth
2 Duration given plus the duration of amenorrhea after the last birth is greater than the
interval since the last birth
3 Duration was reported, but the respondent's period had not returned since the last
birth
4 Respondent reported her last period was before her last birth, but she had never
given birth
5 Respondent reported never having menstruated, but reported in the maternity section
that her period had returned after her last birth
6 Respondent reported her last period was before her last birth, but reported in the
maternity section that her period had returned after her last birth
7 Respondent reported a duration since her last period, but this would place her last
period during her last pregnancy
8 Respondent reported never having menstruated, but she had children
9 Duration was reported, but the duration would place her period before her last birth
V228 A Whether the respondent ever had a pregnancy that terminated in a miscarriage, abortion, or
still birth, i.e., did not result in a live birth.
Pregnancy terminations
Variables V229 to V234 relate to pregnancy terminations (pregnancies that did not result in a
live birth).
BASE: Respondents who have had one or more terminated pregnancies (V228 = 1).
V235 A Birth history index for last child born prior to the start of the calendar. Index is zero if no
child was born before the start of the calendar.
V237 Whether there were any other live births in the interval between the last birth and the date of
interview. See B15 for more explanation.
V238 Total number of births in the last three years is defined as all births in the months 0 to 35
prior to the month of interview, where month 0 is the month of interview.
V239 Whether or not, the respondent had pregnancies that miscarried, aborted or ended in still
birth before calendar beginning
V243 Completeness of information for the last termination date prior to calendar
V301 Knowledge of any method is classified into modern, traditional and folkloric methods as
follows: Modern methods are Pill, IUD, Injections, Diaphragm, Condom, Female
Sterilization, Male Sterilization, Implants, female condom, Foam/Jelly and lactational
amenorrhea. Traditional methods are Periodic Abstinence (Rhythm), Withdrawal, and
Abstinence. Folkloric methods are the category "other". If a respondent knows both a
traditional method and a modern method then the modern method takes priority and she is
coded as knowing a modern method. Similarly, if a woman knows a traditional method and
a folkloric method, the traditional method takes priority.
V302 Ever use of a modern, traditional or folkloric method is created in the same way as V301.
This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in
the DHS VI recode.
Contraceptive Table
The contraceptive table contains entries for 20 contraceptive methods, and for each entry gives
information relating to knowledge of the method, ever use of the method, and knowledge of a source
for the method. Entries 1 to 15 are standard but entries 15 to 20 are used for country-specific
methods. The methods relating to each entry are as follows:
For Foam/Jelly, if questions about the methods are asked separately (for example, foaming tablets in
one set of questions and jelly combined in another set of questions), the original responses are
recorded as country-specific variables and the standard variables presented in this section are a
composite of the two sets of questions.
In general, the list of the methods used in the contraceptive table does not exist. The variable that is
used to recognize these methods is V312. In some cases additional codes are used in the
contraceptive table and these should exist in the documentation of the distributed data file.
V304 Knowledge of the method. If questions relating to the method were not asked in a particular
country then code 8 "Not asked" is used.
V305 Whether the respondent has ever used the contraceptive method. This question is no longer
part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Respondents who knew of the method according to V304, either spontaneously (1)
or after probing (being read a description of the method) (2).
V307 Method currently used. This is a multiple occurrence variable that gives all the methods
used by the respondent.
BASE: Respondents who ever used the method according to V305 or knows a method
according to V304 when V305 is not asked.
Pill IUD Inj. Dia. Cond F.S. M.S. P.Ab With Other Norpl Abst Lact. F.C. Jelly CS1 CS4
V304A 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 1 2 1 1 1 3 3
V304 1 1 1 7 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 8 0 1 7 8 8
V305 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
V307 0 0
In this example the entries in the table are shown across the page while the variables in each entry are shown
down the page. The numbers shown above the method names are the occurrence or entry number associated
with that method. The respondent knew eight methods. Diaphragm and foam and jelly were not asked in the
contraceptive table but were asked in the current method used. The respondent never used a method and is
not currently using a method. The respondent is not using the diaphragm or the jelly.
V310 Number of living children at the time the respondent first used a contraceptive method. This
question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the
DHS VI recode.
BASE: All respondents who have ever used a contraceptive method (V302 > 0).
V311 Number of living children at the time of first use is a grouped form of V310, with 4 or more
truncated to 4 and respondents who have never used a contraceptive method coded 5.
V312 Current contraceptive method. Pregnant women are coded 0 "Not currently using."
V313 Type of contraceptive method categorizes the current contraceptive method as either a
modern method, a traditional method, or a folkloric method.
V315 Month started using a contraceptive method by the respondent or her current partner (see
note on imputed dates).
V316 Year started using a contraceptive method by the respondent or her current partner (see note
on imputed dates). This variable now occupies 4 digits.
V317 Century month code for the date started using a contraceptive method by (see note on
century month codes).
V318 Completeness of information for the date of sterilization of the respondent or her partner (see
note on imputed dates). Codes for DHS III are different from the codes used in DHS I.
Sterilization.
Variables V319 to V322 relate to dates of sterilization.
BASE: Women who are sterilized or whose partner is sterilized (V312 = 6 or V312 = 7).
V325A Cost of current method. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire,
but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
V326 The last source visited to obtain the current modern contraceptive method. Codes are
country-specific, but the major categories are standard.
V327 The last source visited for users of modern methods in standard coding groups constructed
from V326. The standard coding categories for this variable have been changed to separate
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from other private sector sources.
V337 Months of use of the current contraceptive method. For Model "B" questionnaires, if the
number of months of use exceeds 8 years, it is coded as 96 For Model "A" questionnaires, if
the woman is using the method throughout the calendar, the duration is coded as 95.
V360 A Reason for the discontinuation of the last method discontinued in the last five years.
V361 Pattern of past contraceptive use. For model "B" questionnaires the questions relating to
contraceptive use since the last birth are not asked and thus the respondent cannot be
categorized as having used a method since the last birth or having only used a method before
the last birth. In countries using the model "B" questionnaire, all past users are given code 3.
In countries using model "A" questionnaires, all women who have not used in the calendar
are treated as past users and given code 3.
V362 Intention to use a contraceptive method in the future is based on two questions in the model
questionnaires, and classifies those intending to use a method in the future by whether they
intend to use that method in the next twelve months or not. The two "Unsure" categories
correspond to replies of unsure about using a method in the future (unsure about use) or, for
those intending to use a method in the future, unsure about whether they intend to use that
method in the next twelve months (unsure about timing). In some countries, women who
had never had sexual intercourse were not asked these questions, and are coded 6 on V362.
DHS VI individual recode 49 March 22, 2013
Var Model Description
V363 Preferred future method for respondents intending to use a method in the future. This
question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the
DHS VI recode.
BASE: Respondents not currently using a method, but intending to use a method in the
future (V312 = 0 & (V362 = 1 or V362 = 2 or V362 = 3)).
V364 Contraceptive use and intention shows current users of modern methods, current users of
traditional methods, non-users who intend to use in the future and non-users not intending to
use a method. In some countries, women who had never had sexual intercourse were not
asked the questions relating to their intention to use contraception in the future, and are
coded 5 on V364.
V367 Whether the last child born in the last three/five years was wanted at that time, later or not at
all.
BASE: Women who gave birth to a child in the last three/five years (V417 > 0).
V372 Shown pill package. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but
the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Pill users (V312 = 1)
V372A Shown condom package. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire,
but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Condom users (V312 = 5)
V375A Reason the respondent is not using a method of contraception to avoid pregnancy. This
question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the
DHS VI recode.
BASE: Women who are not currently using a contraceptive method and who are not
pregnant (V312 = 0 & V213 <> 1).
V376 Reason the respondent does not intend to use a method of contraception in the future. This
question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the
DHS VI recode. The coding categories have changed in DHS III from those used in DHS II.
BASE: All women not currently using a contraceptive method and not intending to use a
method in the future (V362 = 5).
V376A Whether the respondent would use a method in the future if she was married. This question
is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI
recode.
BASE: Women who says they do not intend to use a method because they are not married
(V376 = 11).
Sources of Contraception.
V379 Source of any method of contraception is formed from a combination of responses. For
current users of modern methods, it is the source of that method. For women who are not
currently using any method, it is a source from which they know they can obtain family
March 22, 2013 DHS VI Individual recode
50
Var Model Description
planning methods, if they know any source. This is not in general part of the standard
questionnaire since it is replaced with a multiple-choice question. However it is left as a
standard variable in case the question asked has only one answer.
V380 Source of any method of contraception coded in standard coding categories is created from
V379.
Whether the respondent has heard about family planning in the last few months from any of
the following sources:
V384A Heard FP on radio last months
V384B Heard FP on TV last months
V384C Heard FP newspaper last months
V393 Whether the respondent was visited by a family planning worker in the twelve months
preceding the interview.
V394 Whether the respondent visited a health facility for any reason in the twelve months
preceding the interview.
V395 Whether any of the staff at the health facility talked to the respondent about family planning.
BASE: Women who visited a health facility in the preceding 12 months (V394 = 1).
V3A00A-Z Source of family planning for non users. This question has multiple coding categories and
each category is recorded separately in these variables. A few of the categories are standard
(VA00A, J, K, L, X, Y, Z). However, room has been left for country-specific categories
(VA00B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W). Any category not used in a
particular country is left blank.
Public Sector
V3A00A Government hospital
V3A00B Country-Specific public sector Government health center
V3A00C Country-Specific public sector FP clinic
V3A00D Country-Specific public sector Mobile clinic
V3A00E Country-Specific public sector Fieldworker
V3A00F Country-Specific public sector
V3A00G Country-Specific public sector
V3A00H Country-Specific public sector
V3A00I Country-Specific public sector Other public sector
V3A01 Before the sterilization operation, whether the respondent was told that sterilization would
mean no more children.
V3A02 Told about side effects or problems the respondent might have when first obtained the
method she is currently using.
V3A03 Told about side effects by health or FP worker
V3A04 Told how to deal with side effects
V3A05 Told about the availability of other FP methods than the one she is using.
V3A06 Told about other FP methods by health or FP worker
V3A07 First source for current method. This variable is grouped into 4 major categories:
10 Public sector
20 Private medical
30 Other private
96 Other
V3A08A-Z Reason for not using. This question has multiple coding categories and each category is
recorded separately in these variables. Most of the categories are standard (VA008A-V).
However, room has been left for country-specific categories (VA008W-VA008AD). Any
category not used in a particular country is left blank.
V3A09A How many pill cycles did get last time. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Pill users (V312 = 1).
V3A09B How many condoms did get last time. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Condom users (V312 = 5).
MIDX Index to the birth history. All births in the last three/five years have entries in this section,
and thus the index increases by one each entry. See the example maternity history below.
For twins the information in their entries will be identical for all variables relating to prenatal
care.
Tetanus toxicoid.
M1 The number of tetanus toxicoid injections given during the pregnancy to avoid convulsions
after birth. This variable indicated whether the respondent received a tetanus toxicoid
injection during the pregnancy for DHS-I countries.
M1A Tetanus injections before pregnancy.
BASE: Women who received one tetanus toxicoid injection during last pregnancy (M1 = 1).
M1B Month last tetanus injection before pregnancy. Women who received a tetanus toxicoid
injection before the last birth were asked this question in DHS V. This question is no longer
part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
M1C Year last tetanus injection before pregnancy. Women who received a tetanus toxicoid
injection before the last birth were asked this question in DHS V. This question is no longer
part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
M1D Years ago received last tetanus injection before pregnancy. Women who received a tetanus
toxicoid injection before the last birth were asked this question.
M1E Last tetanus injection before pregnancy (CMC). Women who received a tetanus toxicoid
injection before the last birth were asked this question in DHS V. This question is no longer
part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
Prenatal care
M2A-N The type of person who gave prenatal care to the respondent prior to the birth. This question
has multiple coding categories and each category is recorded separately in these variables. A
few of the categories are standard (M2A, G, K, N), however room has been left for country-
specific categories (M2B, C, D, E, F, H, I, J, L, M). Any category not used in a particular
country is left blank.
M2A Doctor.
M2B Country-specific health professional. Nurse/Midwife
M2C Country-specific health professional. Auxiliary Midwife
M2D Country-specific health professional.
M2E Country-specific health professional.
M2F Country-specific health professional. Trained (traditional) birth attendant
Delivery care
M3A-N The type of person who assisted with the delivery of the child. The coding of these variables
is the same as for M2A-N.
M4 The duration of breastfeeding of the child in months. The maximum period allowed during
the data editing was the interval between the date of birth of the child and the date of
interview. Cases which exceeded this duration were left with the original response, but are
coded with one of the flag codes on variable M27 and were set to code 97 "Inconsistent" on
variable M5. The code 96 (breastfed until died) is no longer used.
M5 The calculated months of breastfeeding gives the duration of breastfeeding as in M4, but
with the duration calculated if the respondent is still breastfeeding the child or the child was
breastfed until it died. Inconsistent durations based on the original reporting of the duration
of breastfeeding are recoded to 97. In cases where the duration was one month longer than
the interval the duration was shortened by one month, consistent with the "Rule of one"
applied in DHS I. If the duration of breastfeeding exceeded the age of death of the child, the
duration of breastfeeding was changed to the age at death of the child.
M6 The duration of postpartum amenorrhea after the birth of the child in months. The maximum
period allowed during the data editing was the interval between the date of birth of the child
and the date of conception of the following child (date birth less nine months was used for
the date of conception) or the date of interview if there was no following birth. Cases which
exceeded this duration were left with the original response, but are coded with one of the flag
codes on variable M28 and were set to code 97 "Inconsistent" on variable M7.
M7 The calculated months of postpartum amenorrhea give the duration of amenorrhea as in M6,
but with the duration calculated if the period did not return after the birth and before the
following birth or the date of interview. Inconsistent durations based on the original
reporting of the duration of amenorrhea are recoded to 97. In cases where the duration was
one month longer than the interval the duration was shortened by one month, consistent with
the "Rule of one" applied in DHS I.
M8 The duration of postpartum abstinence after the birth of the child in months. The maximum
period allowed is calculated in the same way as for M6 and cases exceeding this duration
were left with the original response, but are coded with one of the flag codes on variable
M29 and are coded 97 "Inconsistent" on M9.
M9 The calculated months of postpartum abstinence give the duration of abstinence as in M8,
but with the duration calculated if the respondent was still abstaining after the birth.
Inconsistent durations based on the original reporting of the duration of abstinence are
recoded to 97. In cases where the duration was one month longer than the interval the
duration was shortened by one month, consistent with the "Rule of one" applied in DHS I.
March 22, 2013 DHS VI Individual recode
56
Var Model Description
M10 Whether the child was wanted at the time of pregnancy, whether the child was wanted, but
later, or whether the child was not wanted at all.
M11 For women who wanted the child later, how much longer the respondent would have
preferred to wait. The first digit gives the units in which the respondent gave her answer,
code 1 indicates a response in months, code 2 in years, with 9 meaning a special answer was
given. The last two digits give the time in the units given. Any value for time greater than
90 is a special answer.
M13 Timing of first antenatal visit for the pregnancy is given in months from the start of the
pregnancy.
BASE: Women who had seen someone for antenatal care (M2N <> 1).
M14 Number of antenatal visits during the pregnancy. Women who did not see anyone for
antenatal care during the pregnancy are coded 0.
M15 Place of delivery of the child. Coding categories are standard and are constructed with a
major category for the first digit and a minor category for the second digit. Country-specific
codes are added under the respective major coding categories as needed. For example
"Home of traditional birth attendant" would be coded 13 since the category relates to a home
(major category 1) and categories 11 and 12 are already used as standard categories.
M19 Weight of child at birth given in kilograms with three implied decimal places (or grams with
no decimal places). Children who were not weighed are coded 9996. In some countries, the
birth weight was collected in grams, i.e. a total of four digits, whereas other countries
collected the weight in kilograms to one decimal place, i.e. a total of two digits. In the latter
case, the third and fourth digits are set to zeros. In a few countries, the weight was collected
in pounds and/or ounces. For these countries, the original weight variables are stored as a
country-specific variable and this variable contains the weight converted to kilograms.
M19A Whether the weight at birth (variable M19) was recorded from a health card (code 1) or from
the mother=s recall (code 2). Children who were not weighed at birth are coded 0.
M27 Flag variable for breastfeeding, indicating types of problems found in editing the duration of
breastfeeding.
M28 Flag variable for postpartum amenorrhea, indicating types of problems found in editing the
duration of postpartum amenorrhea.
M29 Flag variable for postpartum abstinence, indicating types of problems found in editing the
duration of postpartum abstinence.
Codes for these flag variables are as follows:
0 No problem.
1 Duration exceeds interval between birth and succeeding birth (for amenorrhea and
abstinence) or date of interview (for breastfeeding).
2 Duration exceeds interval but only by one month. In DHS I the duration would have
been modified to fit the interval in this case. This modification is made to the
calculated months of postpartum amenorrhea (M7), postpartum abstinence (M9) or
breastfeeding (M5) starting from DHS III.
3 Duration of breastfeeding exceeds the age at death of the child.
M34 Time after the birth at which the respondent first breastfed the child. The first digit gives the
units in which the respondent gave her answer. Code 0 means the child was breastfed
immediately after birth, code 1 indicates the response was in hours, code 2 in days, with code
9 meaning a special answer was given. The last two digits give the time in the units given.
Any value for time greater than 90 is a special answer. The response "Immediately" is
recorded as 000.
BASE: Child who were ever breastfed (M4 <> 94).
M35 Number of times the child was breastfed during the previous night. This question is no
longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Children still being breastfed (M4 = 95).
M36 Number of times the child was breastfed during the daylight hours the previous day. This
question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the
DHS VI recode.
BASE: Children still being breastfed (M4 = 95).
M38 Whether the child drank anything from a bottle with a nipple during the previous day and
night.
BASE: Living children (B5(MIDX) = 1).
M39 The number of times the children received anything to eat, aside from breast milk, including
both meals and snacks. Children who are being exclusively breastfed are coded 0.
BASE: Living children (B5(MIDX) = 1).
M39A The child ate any solid, semi-solid or soft foods yesterday
Care given during the last antenatal visit for the pregnancy
BASE: Last births under 36 (60) months
M42A During pregnancy weighed. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
M42B During pregnancy - height measured. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
M42C During pregnancy - blood pressure taken
M42D During pregnancy - urine sample taken
March 22, 2013 DHS VI Individual recode
58
Var Model Description
Pregnancy complications
BASE: Last births under 36 (60) months
M43 Told about pregnancy complications at the time of last antenatal visit
M44 Told where to go for pregnancy complications
Iron supplementation
BASE: Last births under 36 (60) months
M45 During pregnancy, given or bought iron tablets/syrup
M46 Days tablets or syrup taken
Postpartum checkup for mothers in a health facility after delivery and before discharge
M62 Anyone checked respondent health before discharge
M63 How long before discharging respondent health check took place. This variable is replaced
by M50 and M51 which existed in DHS IV recode.
M64 Who checked respondent health before discharge. This variable is replaced by M52 which
existed in DHS IV recode.
Newborn check up
M70 Baby postnatal check within 2 months
M71 How long after delivery postnatal check took place
M72 Who performed postnatal checkup. This variable is grouped into 3 major categories:
10 Medical personnel
20 Other person
96 Other
M73 Where was the baby checked for the first time. This variable is grouped into 4 major
categories:
10 Home
20 Public sector
30 Private sector
96 Other
In this example, based on the birth history example, there are three entries representing the three children born
in the last three/five years. The first two entries relate to twins and so most of their prenatal care information
is identical. The respondent received three tetanus injections, did not receive any prenatal care, but received
delivery assistance from a traditional birth attendant. Both twins are still being breastfed, 11 months after the
birth, while the other had stopped breastfeeding after 17 months. The respondent's periods had returned 7
months after the last birth and the respondent is still abstaining from sexual relations for 10 months after the
birth. All three children were wanted at that point in time. The respondent did not receive an antenatal care
during her pregnancy. The last child received a tetanus injection. None of the children was born by caesarian
section. The last twin and the child number 3 were larger than average but the second twin had an average
size at birth. None of the children was measured at birth. The last born child was immediately put to breast.
He was breastfed three times during the day and tree times during the night. He was checked an hour after he
was born. He did not receive any dose of Vitamin A. He received plain water and sugar/glucose water the
first 3 days. He did not receive any drug for intestinal parasites. The reason the last born child and
subsequently his twin were not delivered in a health facility is the cost. After delivery of the three children at
home the health of the respondent was checked within one hour for the last birth at home by the traditional
birth-attendant. However the last born child was not checked.
V401 A Whether the last child born in the last three/five years was born by caesarean section.
BASE: Respondents who have had one or more births in the three/five years preceding the
survey (V417 > 0).
V404 Whether the respondent is currently breastfeeding a child. This is based on the entries in the
maternity history for children born in the last three/five years. If no child was born in the
last three/five years, the respondent is assumed not to be breastfeeding. This variable is
created by looking for any child which is still being breastfed, and not just whether the last
child is being breastfed.
V405 Whether the respondent is currently postpartum amenorrheic. This variable is created from
the maternity history by checking if the period returned after the last birth. If the woman is
currently pregnant then she is coded as not currently amenorrheic, irrespective of whether
her period returned after the last birth. If there are no births in the last three/five years then
this variable is coded 0 "Not currently amenorrheic."
V406 Whether the respondent is currently postpartum abstaining. This variable is created from the
maternity history by checking if the respondent has resumed sexual relations since the last
birth. If there are no births in the last three/five years then this variable is coded 0 "Not
currently abstaining."
V407 Number of times the last child was breastfed during the previous night.
BASE: Respondents still breastfeeding the last child (V404 = 1).
V408 Number of times the last child was breastfed during the daylight hours the previous day.
BASE: Respondents still breastfeeding the last child (V404 = 1).
V414G Eggs
V414H Meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken, etc)
V414I pumpkin, carrots, squash (yellow or orange inside)
V414J Any dark green leafy vegetables
V414K Mangoes, papayas, other vitamin A fruits
V414L Any other fruits
V414M Liver, heart, other organs
V414N Fish or shellfish
V414O Food made from beans, peas, lentils, nuts
V414P Cheese, yogurt , other milk products
V414Q Oil, fats, butter, products made of them
V414R Chocolates, sweets, candies, pastries, etc
V414S Other solid-semisolid food
V414T Country specific foods
V414U Country specific foods
V414V Gave child yogurt
V414W Gave child fortified baby food (cerelac, etc)
V415 Whether the child drank anything from a bottle with a nipple the previous day and night.
BASE: Respondents whose last child born in the last three/five years was still alive
(V417 > 0 & B5(1) = 1).
V416 Whether the respondent has heard of the special-named oral rehydration product for treating
children with diarrhea. This variable is coded 1 if the respondent had used the ORS product
to treat a child in the previous two weeks, 2 if the respondent had heard of the ORS product.
BASE: All respondents.
V416 Whether the respondent has heard of the special-named oral rehydration product for treating
children with diarrhea. This variable is coded 1 if the respondent had used the ORS product
to treat a child in the previous two weeks, 2 if the respondent had heard of the ORS product.
BASE: All respondents.
V420 Code assigned to the person measuring the children for the height and weight section. Codes
are country-specific.
BASE: Respondents who had given birth to a child in the last three/five years (V417 > 0).
V426 Time after the birth at which the respondent first breastfed the last child. The first digit gives
the units in which the respondent gave her answer. Code 0 means the child was breastfed
immediately after birth, code 1 indicates the response was in hours, code 2 in days, with code
9 meaning a special answer was given. The last two digits give the time in the units given.
Any value for time greater than 90 is a special answer. The response "Immediately" is
recorded as 000.
BASE: Respondents whose last child born in the last three/five years was ever breastfed.
(V417 > 0 & M4(1) <> 94).
Maternal Anthropometry
Data on maternal anthropometry is only collected for mothers of children born in the
three/five years preceding the survey (months 0 to 59 before the survey).
BASE: Mothers of children born in the preceding three/five years (V417 > 0).
V437 Weight of the respondent in kilograms. There is one implied decimal place in the weight
(decimal points are not included in the data file). To produce the weight in kilograms, divide
V437 by 10.
V438 Height of the respondent in centimeters. There is one implied decimal place in the height
(decimal points are not included in the data file). To produce the height in centimeters,
divide V438 by 10.
The NCHS/FELS/CDC reference standard only contains data for children up to the age of 18
years. For all women aged 18 and over, the value of 215 months (17 years, 11 months) is
used for their age, on the assumption that women are fully grown by the age of 18. Weight-
for-age indices are not included as the weight of an adult woman is very dependent on her
height. For the weight-for-height indicators, the CDC standard only applies up to a height of
137 centimeters, and almost all adult women are taller than this height. For this reason the
weight-for-height Z-scores and percentiles are not available. However, three measures of
percent of reference median are included, one based on the Metropolitan Life or Foggarty
standard, the second based on the WHO standard and a third based on a DHS standard.
These indices have been adjusted for pregnant women according to duration of pregnancy.
The anthropometric indices above are based on the CDC Standard Deviation-derived Growth
Reference Curves derived from the NCHS/FELS/CDC Reference Population. The measures
are presented with two implied decimal places (no decimal points are included in the data
file). To produce the actual measure, divide the variable by 100. If either the weight or the
height of the respondent is missing, then the corresponding measures above are set to the
missing code 9999 or 99999. If either the height or the weight is outside of the acceptable
range for the calculation of these measures, then the corresponding measures are set to code
9998 or 99998.
V444A Weight for Height standard deviations from the reference median based on the DHS
reference standard.
V445 Body mass index (BMI), or Quetelet's index, for the respondent is defined as her weight in
kilograms divided by the square of her height in meters (W/H2). There are two implied
decimal place in the BMI (decimal points are not included in the data file). To produce the
BMI divide by 100. The BMI has not been adjusted for pregnant women.
V446 Rohrer's index for the respondent is defined as her weight in kilograms divided by her height
in meters cubed (W/H3). There are two implied decimal place in the Rohrer's index (decimal
points are not included in the data file). To produce the Rohrer's index divide by 100. The
Rohrer's index has not been adjusted for pregnant women.
V447 Result of measurement of the respondent. Fully measured women are coded 0, and reasons
for not measuring the respondent are coded 2 and above (see HW13).
V452B Respondents aged 15-17 have their caretaker line number (parent/responsible adult) collected
and used for getting the consent to draw blood for anemia testing.
Anemia testing
V452C Read consent statement. A consent statement is read to the respondent for agreement before
taking a sample of blood.
V453 Hemoglobin level (g/dl - 1 decimal)
V454 Currently pregnant (household report)
V455 Result of measuring (Hemoglobin)
V456 Hemoglobin level adjusted by altitude (g/dl - 1 decimal)
V457 Anemia level
V458 Agrees to referral. In case where the anemia level is severe, respondents are asked whether
this information can be given to a doctor at a specified health facility for follow up.
V462 The respondent washed hands before preparing last meal. This questions is no longer part of
the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
Tobacco use
Type of tobacco the respondent currently smokes:
V463A Cigarettes
V463B Pipe
V463C Chewing tobacco Other tobacco
V463D Snuff Country specific
V463E Cigars Country specific
V463F Country specific
V463G Country specific
V463X Smokes other
V463Z Does not smoke
V466 When child is seriously ill, the respondent can decide by herself whether or not the child
should be taken for medical treatment. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Respondents with children living with them.
V468 Column used for variables related only to last births. In the standard, some questions are
asked about the last child but in some countries these questions are asked about all children
born in the last three/five years. This variable gives an indication on whether the
questionnaire followed the standard or was changed to include more children.
V468 Whether the columns are used for last birth only variables
V469E Times gave child powdered/tinned/fresh milk
V469F Times gave child infant formula
V469X Times gave child yogurt
HIDX Index to the birth history. All children born in the last three/five years have entries in this
section. Children of multiple births each have their own entry as in the maternity history.
H1 Whether the respondent has a health card for the child and whether she could produce it for
the interviewer. Code 1 means the interviewer saw the health card for the child, whereas
code 2 means the respondent reported she had a health card for the child but the interviewer
did not see it. Code 3 indicates that the respondent had a health card for the child at some
point in time, but no longer has the health card. The health card is used to verify whether
specific vaccinations were given and to record the dates of vaccination of the children rather
than asking the respondent to report vaccinations.
H2 Whether a date of vaccination was recorded on the health card for BCG. Code 1 means the
child has a date recorded for the vaccination. Code 2 is used to indicate that the respondent
reported that the child had received the vaccination although the health card was not seen or
did not exist, or the vaccination was not recorded on the health card, but was reported by the
mother. Code 3 is used to indicate situations where the health card is clearly marked to
indicate that the vaccination was given, but no date was recorded on the health card for the
vaccination.
If the vaccination date reported is inconsistent with the date of birth or the date of interview
or with the dates of other vaccinations part or all of the date of vaccination may be set to 97
"Inconsistent."
BASE: Children who have the vaccination recorded on the health card (H2 = 1).
H10 Whether the child ever received any vaccination to prevent him/her from getting diseases.
This variable comes from a single question in the model questionnaires, which is used if the
respondent does not have a health card for the child, and is not a summary of the preceding
variables.
BASE: Children whose mother could not produce a health card (H1 = 0 or H1 = 2 or
H1 = 3).
Diarrhea
Variables H11 to H21 relate to the prevalence and treatment of diarrhea.
BASE: All living children born in the last three/five years for H11, and children having an
episode of diarrhea in the last two weeks (H11 = 1 or H11 = 2) for H11A to H21.
H11 Whether the child had diarrhea in the last 24 hours or within the last two weeks. Code 1 is
country specific for surveys after DHS II. Code 1 indicates that the child had been ill in the
last 24 hours; code 2 indicates that the child had been ill with diarrhea in the last two weeks.
In case the question about diarrhea in the last 24 hours is used, the code 1 can be used, in
this case the code 2 is used to indicate that the child had diarrhea the last two weeks but not
in the last 24 hours otherwise the code 2 is for the last 2 weeks including the last 24 hours.
H12A-X The place at which medical treatment or advice was sought for the last episode of diarrhea.
This question has multiple coding categories and each category is recorded separately in
these variables. A few of the categories are standard (H12A, J, K, L, X). However, room
has been left for country-specific categories (H12B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S,
T, U, V, W). Any category not used in a particular country is left blank.
Public Sector.
H12A Government Hospital
H12B Country-specific public sector Government Health Center
H12C Country-specific public sector Government Health Post
H12D Country-specific public sector Mobile Clinic
H12E Country-specific public sector Community Health Worker
H12F Country-specific public sector
H12G Country-specific public sector
H12H Country-specific public sector
H12I Country-specific public sector Other public sector.
H12Y Whether no treatment or advice was sought for the diarrhea as reported by the respondent.
H12Z Whether the child was taken to a medical facility for treatment of the diarrhea. This usually
includes being taken to all Public Sector facilities and all Medical Private Sector facilities
except for Pharmacy. This variable is a summary of these preceding variables as is used in
the final reports.
H13 Whether the child received a sugar-salt-water solution from a special packet (ORS).
H13 is coded 1 if the respondent spontaneously reported giving ORS to treat the diarrhea,
and code 2 if it was reported only after probing. Code 1 is country specific for for surveys
after DHS-II.
Fever
H22 Whether the child had fever in the last two weeks.
Variables H31 to H40 relate to the prevalence and treatment of cough in the two weeks
preceding the interview.
BASE: All living children born in the last three/five years for H31, and children suffering
from cough in the last two weeks for H32 to H38 (H31 = 1 or H31 = 2).
H31 Whether the child had suffered from a cough in the last two weeks and whether the child had
been ill with the cough in the last 24 hours. Code 1 indicates that the child had been ill in the
last 24 hours; code 2 indicates that the child had been ill with the cough in the last two
weeks. Code 1 is country specific for surveys after DHS II. In case code 1 is used, code 2
indicates that the child had cough in last two weeks but not in the last 24 hours.
H31B Whether the child had suffered from rapid breathing when he/she had the cough.
BASE: Child who had suffered from a cough (H31 = 1 or H31 = 2).
H31C Whether the child has a problem in the chest or a blocked or running nose.
H31D Amount offered to the child to drink.
H31E Amount offered to the child to eat.
H32A-X The place at which medical treatment or advice was sought for the last episode of fever
and/or cough. This question has multiple coding categories and each category is recorded
separately in these variables. A few of the categories are standard (H32A, J, K, L, X).
However, room has been left for country-specific categories (H32B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, M,
N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W). Any category not used in a particular country is left blank.
Public Sector.
H32A Government Hospital
H32B Country-specific public sector Government Health Center
H32C Country-specific public sector Government Health Post
H32D Country-specific public sector Mobile Clinic
H32E Country-specific public sector Community Health Worker
H32F Country-specific public sector
H32G Country-specific public sector
H32H Country-specific public sector
H32I Country-specific public sector Other public sector
H32Y Whether no treatment or advice was sought for the fever and/or cough as reported by the
respondent.
March 22, 2013 DHS VI Individual recode
74
Var Model Description
H32Z Whether the child was taken to a medical facility for treatment of the fever and/or cough.
This usually includes being taken to all Public Sector facilities and all Medical Private Sector
facilities except for Pharmacy. This variable is a summary of these preceding variables as is
used in the final reports.
Vitamin A vaccination
H33 Received Vitamin A. As for H2
H33D Vitamin A Day As for H2D
H33M Vitamin A month As for H2M
H33Y Vitamin A year As for H2Y
H34 Whether the respondent received or not a vitamin A dose in form of an ampoule, a capsule or
syrup in last 6 months
Vaccination campaigns
Questions pertaining to H35 to H36F are no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire,
but the variables are kept in the DHS VI recode.
H35 Any vaccinations in the last 2 years given as part of a national immunization day campaign
H36A Vaccinated during Campaign A
H36B Vaccinated during Campaign B
H36C Vaccinated during Campaign C
H36D Vaccinated during Campaign D
H36E Vaccinated during Campaign E
H36F Vaccinated during Campaign F
BASE for H36A-F: Vaccination campaigns conducted in the area (H35 = 1).
Vitamin A
Questions pertaining to H41A and H41B are no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variables are kept in the DHS VI recode.
H41A Received vitamin A after most recent in card
H41B Ever received Vitamin A dose
H42 Taking iron pills, sprinkles with iron or iron syrup in the last 7 days
Diarrhea
Questions pertaining to H44B, H44C and H45are no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variables are kept in the DHS VI recode.
H44A Place first sought treatment for diarrhea
H44B Days after diarrhea sought advice or treatment
H44C Still has diarrhea
BASE: Diarrhea last two weeks.
Fever
H46A Place first sought treatment for fever
H46B Days after fever sought advice or treatment. This questions is no longer part of the DHS VI
core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Children with fever last 2 weeks.
In this example, based on the birth history example, there are three entries representing three living children
born in the last three/five years. The first two entries are twins. The last born child has a health card and has
dates reported for BCG, DPT 1 and Polio 1 vaccinations. The second twin has a health card and was
immunized for BCG, DPT1, DPT2, Polio 1 and Polio 2. The child in the third entry no longer has a health
card. His mother reported that he received BCG, DPT 1, DPT2, DPT3 and Polio 1, Polio 2 and Polio 3
vaccinations. The child did not receive Polio 0. In the two weeks prior to the interview, none of the children
listed had an episode of diarrhea. The last child had fever and cough with short and rapid breathing and
problem in the chest or blocked or running nose in the two weeks prior to the interview, and was treated for it
with increasing of quantity of liquids and was taken to a government health center and a private hospital or
clinic in H32A-Z. None of the children born in the last three/five years received Vitamin A. The sick child
received a drug cocktail and other medication in H37A-Z.The first Place where a treatment was sought was a
private hospital the same day he had a fever.
The information included in this section comes from data collected in the household questionnaire and
transferred to the womans level.
HWIDX Index to the birth history. All live births born in the specified period have entries in this
section.
HW1 Age in months of the child is calculated from the country month code of the date of
interview less the century month code of the date of birth of the child.
HW2 Weight in kilograms. There is one implied decimal place in the weight (decimal points
are not included in the data file). To produce the weight in kilograms divide HW2 by
10.
HW3 Height in centimeters. There is one implied decimal place in the height (decimal points
are not included in the data file). To produce the height in centimeters divide HW3 by
10. Height is supposed to be the recumbent length for children less than 24 months old
and the standing height for children born 24 or more months prior to the interview.
The measures above were calculated using the CDC Standard Deviation-derived Growth
Reference Curves derived from the NCHS/FELS/CDC Reference Population. The
measures are presented with two implied decimal places (no decimal points are included
in the data file). To produce the actual measure, divide the variable by 100. If either the
weight or the height of the child is missing then all of the above measures are set to the
missing code 9999 or 99999. If either the height or the weight is outside of the
acceptable range for the calculation of these measures then all of the above measures is
set to code 9998 or 99998.
HW13 Reason the child was not measured. Fully measured children are coded 0, dead children
are coded 1, and other reasons for not measuring the child are coded 2 and above.
HW16 Day of birth of the child. This is used in conjunction with the date of measurement of
the child to more finely calculate the age of the child in days when computing the
anthropometric measures. This level of accuracy can be important in very young
children. The age of the child calculated from the day of birth information is not used as
a background characteristic for tabulations, but purely to produce a more accurate set of
anthropometric indices.
HW52 Whether the consent to draw a droplet of blood was granted after reading a consent
statement to a parent/responsible adult.
HW53 Hemoglobin level in g/dl with 1 implied decimal
HW55 Result of measuring (Hemoglobin)
HW56 Hemoglobin level adjusted by altitude in g/dl with 1 implied decimal
HW57 Anemia levels below 7.0 g/dl are considered as severe anemia, levels between 7.1g/dl
and 9.9g/dl are considered as moderate anemia and cases between 10.0 g/dl and 10.9
g/dl are considered as mild anemia.
HW58 Agrees to referral. In case where the anemia level is severe, respondents are asked
whether this information can be given to a doctor at a specified health facility for follow
up
The measures above were calculated using the new Child Growth Standards released by
the World Health Organization on April 27 2006. The new Standards are the result of an
intensive study initiated by WHO in 1997 to develop a new international standard for
assessing the physical growth nutritional status and motor development in all children
from birth to age five. WHO and its principal partner, the United Nations University,
undertook a Multi-centre Growth Reference Study which is a community-based, multi-
country projects involving more than eight thousand children from Brazil, Ghana, India,
Norway, Oman, and the United States of America. The measures are presented with
two implied decimal places (no decimal points are included in the data file). To produce
the actual measure, divide the variable by 100. If either the weight or the height of the
child is missing then all of the above measures are set to the missing code 9999 or
99999. If either the height or the weight is outside of the acceptable range for the
calculation of these measures then all of the above measures is set to code 9998 or
99998.
HWIDX.....1..................2...................3
HW1.......11.................11..................47
HW2......._78................_86................._96
HW3......._690..............._728................_807
HW4.......__86...............1613................___0
HW5.......-238..............._-99................-513
HW6......._9155.............._9649..............._7878
HW7......._148..............._816................___1
HW8.......-217...............-139................-370
HW9......._7816.............._8601..............._5798
HW10......2644...............1900................_657
HW11......_-63..............._-88................-151
HW12......_9434.............._9265..............._8598
HW13......0..................0...................0
HW15......1..................1...................2
HW16......_6................._5..................13
HW17......19.................20..................19
HW18......_1................._1.................._1
HW19......2006...............2006................2006
HW51......_1................._2.................._7
HW52......1..................1...................1
HW53......_95................_93................._92
HW55......0..................0...................0
HW56......____...............____................____
HW57......4..................4...................4
HW58......_.................._..................._
In this example, based on the birth history example, three children are included. In the first entry, the child is
aged 11 months and measures 7.8 kg and 96.0 cm. His anthropometric measurements are given to 1 implied
decimal place. The second twin measures 8.6 kg and 72.8 cm. Both twins were measured lying down. In the
third entry, the child was measured and weighs 9.6 kg and measures 80.7 cm. He was measured standing up.
None of the children is anemic and they have a hemoglobin level of 9.5 g/dl, 9.3 g/dl and 9.2 g/dl,
respectively. No question on referral was asked.
V502 Whether the respondent is currently, formerly or never married (or lived with a partner).
Currently married includes married women and women living with a partner, and formerly
married includes widowed, divorced, separated women and women who have lived with a
partner but are not now living with a partner.
V503 Whether the respondent has been married or lived with a man once or more than once.
BASE: Ever-married women (V501 <> 0).
V504 Whether the partner lives in the household or is now living elsewhere.
BASE: Currently married or in union women (V502 = 1).
V505 B Whether the respondent is in a polygynous union and the number of other wives the
respondent's partner currently has.
BASE: Currently married or in union women (V502 = 1).
V509 Century month code of the date of start of first marriage or union (see note on century month
codes).
V510 Completeness of information for the date of start of the first marriage or union (see note on
imputed dates)
V511 Age at start of first marriage or union is calculated from the century month code of the date
of start of first marriage or union and the century month code of the date of birth of the
respondent.
V512 Years since start of first marriage or union is calculated from the century month code of the
start of first marriage or union and the century month code of the date of interview.
V513 Marital duration is actually the number of years elapsed since the start of the first marriage or
union until the date of interview grouped into five-year groups, irrespective of whether the
respondent is still married to her first partner.
V527 Time since the last sexual relations as reported by the respondent. The first digit gives the
units in which the respondent gave her answer: 1 - Days ago, 2 - Weeks ago, 3 - Months
ago, 4 - Years ago, with 9 meaning a special answer was given. The last two digits give the
time in the units given. Any value for time greater than 90 is a special answer.
V528 Time since the last sexual intercourse in days is calculated from the preceding variable.
Durations of more than 30 days are grouped into one category 31+. If the respondent said
she had had sexual relations in the last four weeks, but replied that her last sexual intercourse
was one month before the interview, then this is recoded to 30 days. Otherwise, one month
is coded 31+ days.
V529 Computed time since last sexual intercourse. This is computed from the responses for V527,
with durations exceeding the interval since the last birth (V530 = 9) recoded as "Before last
birth" and inconsistent responses flagged on variable V530 (codes 1-8) recoded to 97.
V530 Flag variable indicating inconsistencies found in editing the responses for variable V527.
0 No flag
1 Duration given is greater than the interval since the last birth and the respondent did
not say, in the maternity section, that she was still abstaining from sexual relations
since her last birth
2 Duration given plus the duration of abstinence after the last birth is greater than the
interval since the last birth
3 Duration was reported, but the respondent had not resumed sexual intercourse since
the last birth
4 Respondent reported her last intercourse was before her last birth, but she had never
given birth
5 Respondent reported her last intercourse was before her last birth, but she was
currently pregnant
6 Respondent reported her last intercourse was before her last birth, but reported in the
maternity section that she had resumed sexual intercourse after her last birth
7 Respondent reported a duration since her last intercourse, but this would place her
last intercourse before her last pregnancy
8 Respondent reported a duration since her last intercourse, but this response was
inconsistent with her response concerning the number of times she had had sexual
intercourse in the four weeks preceding the survey.
9 Duration was reported, but the duration would place her last sexual intercourse
before her last birth.
V531 Age at first sexual intercourse - imputed. This is the same as V525, except for respondents
who reported that their first sexual intercourse was at the time of their union. For these
cases, the age at first sex is taken from the age at first union. In cases where the age at first
sex was inconsistent with the age at conception of the first child, but only by one year (V532
= 3), the age at first sex was reduced by one year, consistent with the "Rule of one" applied
in DHS I. Other cases flagged as inconsistent on variable V532 (codes 1, 2, 4, 5) are recoded
as 97 (inconsistent). Cases coded 6 on V532 are not changed.
March 22, 2013 DHS VI Individual recode
82
Var Model Description
V532 Flag variable for inconsistencies found in editing the responses for V525.
0 No flag
1 Respondent reported age at first sexual intercourse that exceeds her current age
2 Respondent reported her age at first sexual intercourse as occurring more than one
year after the conception of her first child
3 Respondent reported her age at first sexual intercourse as occurring up to one year
after the conception of her first child
4 Respondent reported that her first sexual intercourse was at the time of her first
marriage, but the respondent was never married
5 Respondent reported that her first sexual intercourse was at the time of her first
marriage, but her first marriage occurred after the conception of her first child
6 Respondent reported her first sexual intercourse as being after her first marriage
V535 Whether the respondent has ever been married or lived with a man.
BASE: Women who are not currently married and not living with a man (V502 <> 1).
V536 Recent sexual activity gives the sexual activity of the respondents during the last four
weeks coded as follows:
V603 Preferred waiting time before the birth of another child is created from a single question
asking how long from the date of interview the respondent would like to wait before the birth
of the next child. If the respondent answered "Don't know" or gave an "Other" answer when
she was asked how long she would like to wait for her next child, she is no longer asked how
old she would like her youngest child to be when the next child is born. In some countries
there may be some additional non-numeric responses to the question of how long to wait
before the next birth. These are assigned additional codes on a country-specific basis.
BASE: All women who want another child (V602 = 1).
V604 The preferred waiting time to the next birth is grouped into 12-month categories with
responses of more than six years coded as 6+ years. Non-numeric responses are coded into
one group (7 "Non-numeric"), but with "Don't know" and missing responses in their own
categories (8 & 9). The additional response "Soon/Now" is not grouped with the other non-
numeric codes, but is recoded as less than one year waiting time.
BASE: All women who want another child (V602 = 1).
V605 Desire for more children is a constructed variable classifying respondents who want more
children by whether they want the next child soon (less than 2 years) or they want the next
child later (2+ years). Sterilized women and women who want no more children are now
recorded in separate categories. In some countries, women who had never had sexual
intercourse were not asked the questions relating to desire for future children, and are coded
8 on V605.
BASE: All women.
V613 The ideal number of children that the respondent would have liked to have in her whole life,
irrespective of the number she already has. In many countries it was possible for a
respondent to reply to this question with a range of values, in which case this variable
contains the midpoint between these values. If the midpoint is not an exact number then the
number is rounded up in half the cases and rounded down for the other half. In situations
where a range of values was collected, the original variables are included as country-specific
variables. In some countries, additional country-specific categories are included, such as "It
depends on God" or "As many as I can support" and are given country-specific codes.
V614 This variable groups the preceding variable such that 6 or more children are in one category
6+ and all non-numeric responses are coded 7.
V616 This variable records the original response to the question "How long would you like to wait
from now before the birth of another child?" The first digit gives the units in which the
respondent answered (1 indicates months, 2 indicates years, and 9 indicates a special
response), while the last two digits give the time in those units. If the units value is 9 then
the variable contains a special response, and if the duration value is greater than 90 this also
indicates a special response. For example, code 994 is used for the responses "Soon/Now",
and code 299 would mean that the response was given in years but the actual duration was
missing on the questionnaire.
BASE: All women who want another child (V602 = 1), plus those originally responding that
they want another child, but then say they cannot get pregnant (see also V602).
V621 Whether the respondent believes her partner wants the same number of children, more
children or fewer children than she wants herself.
BASE: Currently married or in-union women and neither partner is sterilized (V502 = 1 &
V312 <> 6 & V312 <> 7).
V623 The exposure status variable differentiates between pregnant women, postpartum
amenorrheic women, menopausal or infecund women, and fecund women:
!Pregnant women.
!Postpartum amenorrheic women are those whose period has not returned since the last
birth in the three/five years preceding the survey.
!Women are defined as being menopausal if they are not pregnant and not postpartum
amenorrheic, are not currently using a contraceptive method, and have not had a
period in the six months preceding the survey or report that they are in menopause.
!Women are defined as being infecund if they are not menopausal and not postpartum
amenorrheic and not pregnant, have had no birth in the five years preceding the
survey, and either (Model "A" countries) have been continuously married and have
not used contraception in the five years preceding the survey, or (Model "B"
countries) have been married one time and first married five or more years before
the survey and have never used contraception.
!Fecund women are all women not included in the preceding categories.
V624 The need for family planning variable categorizes women according to whether they have an
unmet need or a met need, to space or to limit their future births:
!Unmet need for spacing includes pregnant women whose pregnancy was mistimed,
postpartum amenorrheic women whose last birth was mistimed, and fecund women
who are neither pregnant nor postpartum amenorrheic and who are not using any
method of family planning and say they want to wait two or more years for their
next birth, are undecided about the timing of the next birth, or are undecided
whether to have another child.
!Unmet need for limiting includes pregnant women whose pregnancy was unwanted,
postpartum amenorrheic women whose last birth was unwanted and fecund women
who are neither pregnant nor postpartum amenorrheic and who are not using any
method of family planning and who want no more children.
!Met need for spacing includes women who are using some method of family planning and
say they want to have another child, are undecided about the timing of the next birth,
or are undecided whether to have another child.
!Met need for limiting includes women who are using family planning and who want no
more children. Note that the specific methods are not taken into account here.
In Model "A" countries, pregnant and postpartum amenorrheic women whose pregnancy was
the result of a contraceptive failure are not included in the category of unmet need, but are
categorized as spacing failures or limiting failures. In Model "B" countries, no distinction is
made since the information on contraceptive failure is not ascertained.
For formerly married and never married women, two additional categories exist. Women
who have never had sex are separated into a separate category, as are women who would be
categorized as having an unmet need to space or to limit, but who had not had sex in the
month before the interview.
The remaining cases are those women who have no need for contraceptive methods, either
because they desire a child soon (within the next two years) or because they are menopausal
or infecund. Note that the infecund or menopausal category on this variable contains fewer
cases than variable V623 as those women that are categorized as infecund or menopausal,
but are currently using a contraceptive method are recorded in the two "met need" categories.
Additionally, the code for the category "infecund or menopausal" has been changed to code
9 to allow for the two extra coding categories for formerly married or never married women.
BASE: All women.
NOTE: This definition was used in the majority of the DHS II survey reports.
V625 Exposure status (definition 2) reclassifies variable V623, using a more liberal definition of
infecundity. There are two differences between this definition and the definition used in
V623:
1) For Model "B" countries, it is only possible to say that a women had been continuously
married throughout the preceding five years if she was in her first union. This definition has
been relaxed in V625, such that the respondent need only have been first married at least five
years ago, and not necessarily continuously married throughout the last five years. For
Model "A" countries, there is no change to this part of the definition.
2) Two additional variables have been used to declare a woman infecund. If the respondent
said she cannot get pregnant when asked about preferences for additional children
(V602 = 5), or if she reported that she was menopausal or had a hysterectomy when giving
the reason she was not currently using a contraceptive method (V376 = 14), the respondent is
coded as infecund.
V625A Exposure to need for contraception (definition 3). A detailed explanation of the changes
in the definition of exposure to need for contraception can be found in Revising Unmet
Need for Family Planning, DHS Analytical Studies 25 January 2102 by Sarah K.
Bradley, Trevor N. Croft, Joy D. Fishel and Charles K. Westoff. This publication can be
downloaded from the measuredhs.com.
V626 Unmet need (definition 2) follows exactly the same logic as V624, but uses the definition of
fecundity given in V625. This variable was not used in DHS II survey reports, but has been
used in the majority of DHSIII survey reports.
BASE: All women.
V626A Unmet need for contraception (definition 3). A detailed explanation of the changes in the
definition of exposure to need for contraception can be found in Revising Unmet Need
for Family Planning, DHS Analytical Studies 25 January 2102 by Sarah K. Bradley,
Trevor N. Croft, Joy D. Fishel and Charles K. Westoff. This publication can be
downloaded from the measuredhs.com.
V631 If the respondent discovered that she became pregnant would that be a problem. This
question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the
DHS VI recode.
V632 Women using contraception are asked who decided on the use of contraception.
V701 The current or most recent husband or partner's highest level of education attended. See
variable V106.
BASE: Ever-married women (V501 <> 0).
V702 Highest year of education gives the years of education completed at the level given in V701.
BASE: Ever-married women except those answering "No education" or with missing data
for V701 (V501 <> 0 & V701 <> 0 & V701 <> 8 & V701 <> 9).
V704 Current or last husband or partner's most recent occupation as collected in the country.
Codes are country-specific.
BASE: Ever-married women (V501 <> 0).
V705 Standardized partner's occupation groups. Agricultural categories also include fishermen,
foresters and hunters and are not the basis for selection of agricultural/non-agricultural
workers for the variables that follow. This selection is based on a country specific coding
scheme in variable V704. In countries, where it is not possible to differentiate between self-
employed agricultural workers and agricultural employees, no attempt has been made to use
other information, and code 4 has been used for both categories. The analyst may wish to
use other related information to differentiate between these two categories.
BASE: Ever-married women (V501 <> 0)
.
V714 Whether the respondent is currently working.
V714A Whether the respondent has a job from which she was absent.
V715 Most recent husband or partner's education in single years. See variable V133.
BASE: Ever-married women (V501 <> 0).
V719 Whether the respondent works for a family member, for someone else or is self-employed.
BASE: Women currently working (V731 = 1 or V731 = 2).
V721 Whether the respondent works at home or away from home. This question is no longer part
of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Women currently working (V731 = 1 or V731 = 2).
V729 Educational achievement recodes the education of the partner into the following categories:
None, incomplete primary, complete primary, incomplete secondary, complete secondary,
higher education, unknown level of education. If the grade within a level is unknown, it is
assumed that the level was not completed. See related variables V702, V703, V715.
BASE: Ever-married women (V501 <> 0).
V732 Whether the respondent works throughout they year, seasonally, or just occasionally.
BASE: Women who are currently working or who have worked in the past year (V731 = 1
or V731 = 2).
V739 The person who mainly decides how the money earned by the respondent is used.
BASE: Women paid cash for their work (V720 = 1).
V740 Whether the respondent works on her own land, family land, rented land or on someone
else's land. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable
is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Women who are currently working or who have worked in the last 12 months, and
who work or worked in agriculture (V716 = country-specific agricultural category).
V741 Type of earnings for work. The respondent is asked whether they receive cash for their
work, they are paid in kind, a combination of the two or not paid.
BASE: Respondents who have worked during the last 12 months (V731 = 1 or V731 = 2).
V751 Whether the respondent has ever heard of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).
Get AIDS
Respondents were asked if transmission of AIDS can happen by being bitten by a mosquito
or by sharing food with a person who has AIDS.
BASE: Heard of AIDS (V751 = 1)
V754JP From mosquito bites
V754WP Sharing food with person who has AIDS
V756 Whether the respondent believes it is possible for a healthy-looking person to have the AIDS
virus.
BASE: Women who have heard of AIDS (V751 = 1).
Place where advice or treatment is sought for STD in the last 12 months
V770A Government clinic
V770B Country specific public sector Health center
V770C Country specific public sector Public VCT center
V770D Country specific public sector FP clinic
V770E Country specific public sector Mobile clinic
V770F Country specific public sector Fieldworker
V770G Country specific public sector
V770H Country specific public sector
V770I Country specific public sector
V770J Country specific public sector Other public
V770K Private hosp/clinic/doctor
V770L Country specific private medical sector Private VCT center
V770M Country specific private medical sector Pharmacy
V770N Country specific private medical sector Mobile clinic
V770O Country specific private medical sector Fieldworker
V770P Country specific private medical sector
V770Q Country specific private medical sector
V770R Country specific private medical sector
V770S Country specific private medical sector Other private
V770T Country specific other private sector Shop
V770U Country specific other private sector
V770V Country specific other private sector
V770W Country specific other private sector
V770X Seek advice from other
V774C By breastfeeding
V775 Respondent knows personally someone who has or died of AIDS. This question is no longer
part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
V778 Respondent willing to care for a relative in the household who has AIDS
AIDS test
V781 Ever been tested for AIDS
V783 Know a place to get AIDS test
V820 Condom used at first sexual intercourse. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Youth 15-24 who ever had sex.
Get AIDS
V823 Can get AIDS by witchcraft or supernatural means.
V826A The number of months ago the respondent had her most recent HIV test
AIDS test
This questions pertaining to V826 and V827 are no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variables are kept in the DHS VI recode.
V826 When was last time you were tested.
V827 Last test was on your own, offered or required.
V828 Did get results for last test.
V829 Place where last AIDS test was taken. This variable comes from two different questions, the
first question is the place of the last test and the second question is the place of last test
during an antenatal care.
Sexual partner.
This questions pertaining to V830 and V831 are no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variables are kept in the DHS VI recode.
V830 Age of first sexual partner.
BASE: Youth 15-24 who ever had sex.
V831 First sexual partner younger, same age or older.
BASE: Youth 15-24 who ever had sex.
V837 Heard of drugs to help infected people to live longer. This question is no longer part of the
DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
Time ago first had sexual intercourse with up to three sexual partners in the last year
V852A How long ago first had sex with most recent partner
V852B How long ago first had sex with 2nd most recent partner
V852C How long ago first had sex with 3rd most recent partner
The number of times the respondent had sex with up to three sexual partners during the
last year
V853A Times in last 12 months had sex with most recent partner
V853B Times in last 12 months had sex with 2nd most recent partner
V853C Times in last 12 months had sex with 3rd most recent partner
Concurrency
For information on concurrency please refer to Concurrent Sexual Partnerships and HIV
Infection: Evidence from National Population Based Surveys, DHS Working Papers No.
62, 2009 by Vinod Mishra and Simona Bignami-Van Asshe. This publication can be
downloaded from measuredhs.com.
V854A Point concurrent sexual partners
V854B Cumulative concurrent sexual partners
V855 Received counseling after tested for AIDS during antenatal care
V801 Time of the start of the interview. The first two digits give the time in hours using the 24-
hour clock, and the last two digits give the minutes within that hour.
V802 Time of the end of interview is coded as for the start of interview.
V803 Length of interview in minutes is calculated from the previous two variables, but with
interviews that required more than one visit being coded 96.
V805 Interviewer identification code. Codes are country-specific. This variable occupies 3 digits
starting from DHS III.
Presence of other people during the interview of the husbands background and womans
work section of the interview
V811 Presence of children aged under age 10
V812 Presence of the husband
V813 Presence of other males
V814 Presence of other females
Presence of other people during the sexual activity section of the interview
V815A Presence of children under age 10
V815B Presence of male adults
V815C Presence of female adults
VCOL A Column number of the entries in the calendar, indicating the type of data found in the entry
in the calendar.
VCAL A The calendar of events representing the 5+ years prior to the date of interview. The calendar
is split into 9 records, representing each of the 9 columns. Each of the 9 columns contains a
single character for each month in the time period. The data are stored as single variables of
80 characters, allowing for up to 80 months to be represented in the calendar. The first
character in each variable represents the most recent point in time, while the 80th character
position represents data for January of the year in which the calendar started. The calendars
are fixed at the 80th character position, such that the first few entries in the calendar
represent points in time after the date of interview, and are consequently left blank. The
columns are as follows:
Column Description
The entire calendar is usually inserted in questionnaires of countries using the model A.
However, DHS VI includes, in model B questionnaires, a reduced calendar that has one
column on births, pregnancies (column 1).
Column Description
1 Records each of the births and pregnancies during the calendar period, as well as each
episode of contraceptive use and non-use. The following codes are used in column 1:
0 Non-use of contraception L Lactational amenorrhea
1 Pill C Female condom
2 IUD F Foam and Jelly
3 Injections Country-specific method 1
4 Diaphragm Country-specific method 2
5 Condom Country-specific method 3
6 Female sterilization ? Unknown method/missing data
7 Male sterilization P Pregnancy
8 Periodic abstinence/rhythm T Terminated pregnancy/non-live birth
9 Withdrawal B Birth
W Other traditional methods
N Norplant
A Abstinence
Column Description
All codes are standard except for codes , , and which are country-specific letter .
2 Records the reason for discontinuation of a method. The discontinuation code appears in the
row of the last month of use of the method for the episode. All other rows in the column are
left blank, except for those in which discontinuations took place. The standard codes are as
follows:
1 Became pregnant while using C Cost
2 Wanted to become pregnant F Fatalistic
3 Husband disapproved A Difficult to get pregnant/menopause
4 Side effects D Marital dissolution
5 Health concerns W Other reasons
6 Access/availability K Don't know
7 Wanted more effective method Country-specific reason 1
8 Inconvenient to use Country-specific reason 2
9 Infrequent sex/husband away Country-specific reason 3
All codes are standard except for codes , , and which are country-specific letter codes
representing additional reasons for discontinuation.
3 Records the episodes of marriage in the calendar period. The following codes are used:
X In union (married or living together)
0 Not in union
4 Residence
5 Source of contraception
6 Country specific
7 Country specific
8 Country specific
9 Country specific
Rows in the calendar, representing months after the month of interview, are left blank. With this exception,
columns 1, 3 and 4 do not contain any blank characters.
MM4 MM CMC date of birth of sibling is based on a crude imputation process. The analysts may
elect to perform their own imputation based on their own assumptions.
MM5 MM Sibling's marital status: whether the sibling is/was ever married or not.
BASE: All siblings whose age is/was greater than or equal to the cut off age (MM3 >=
MMC5).
MM9 MM Indicates if the respondent's sister was pregnant when she died, if she died during
childbirth, within six weeks after the delivery, within 2 months after the delivery.
BASE: Female siblings aged older than the cutoff age (MM1 = 2 & MM2 = 0 & MM7 >=
MMC5). In some countries the question is only asked for ever married siblings (MM5 =
1).
MM10 MM Information about whether the death that occurred was related to the sister's pregnancy.
BASE: Female siblings that died during a pregnancy or a period of time after a delivery
or a still birth (MM9 = 2 or MM9 = 4 or MM9 = 5 or MM9 = 6).
MM12 MM Time between delivery and death -- used in countries where questions relating to fixed
periods of time between delivery and death (usually six weeks or two months) are not
asked.
BASE: Female siblings who died after pregnancy (MM9 = 4 or MM9 = 5 or MM9 = 6).
MM13 MM Place in which the death occurred. Codes are country specific.
BASE: Siblings who have died (MM2 = 0).
MM14 MM The number of children to whom the female sibling gave birth to during her live. In most
countries, for women with a maternity related death, this is the number of children born
prior to the pregnancy, if the respondent was pregnant when she died or if she died during
delivery, and includes the child, if the woman died after the birth of the child.
BASE: As for MM9 above.
MMC1 MM The number of occurrences of the maternal mortality section. This variable gives the
number of the respondent's brothers and sisters born to the same mother including the
respondent.
MMC2 MM The number of births to the respondent's mother preceding the respondent's birth. This
variable gives the number of brothers and sisters born to the respondent's mother who
are/were older than the respondent.
MMC3 MM In some countries information about the siblings is given by one of the sisters of the
respondent, and not by the respondent herself, if both the sibling and the respondent were
interviewed. In this variable, the line number of the sibling providing the information is
recorded, if the information was not given by the respondent. If the respondent gave the
information for the maternal mortality section, this variable is coded 0. The information
for the respondent is copied from that reported by the sister, replacing the respondent's
data by her sister's data in the maternal mortality section.
MMC4 MM Line numbers in the household schedule of the eligible sisters of the respondent.
MMC5 MM Cut off age for this section. In most countries the age of 12 was taken as the cut off age,
however in some countries the age of 10, 13 or 15 was used.
Questions pertaining to ML11 and ML12 are no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variables are kept in the DHS VI recode.
ML11 Child has fever now.
ML12 Child has had convulsions in last 2 weeks.
Questions pertaining to ML14A to ML14Z are no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variables are kept in the DHS VI recode.
ML14A Injection for fever/convulsion
ML14B Suppository for fever/convulsion
ML14Y No suppository or injection for fever/convulsion
ML14Z Don't know if suppository or injection for fever/convulsion
Questions pertaining to ML19A to ML19Z are no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variables are kept in the DHS VI recode.
ML19A Consulted traditional healer.
ML19B Gave tepid sponging.
ML19C Gave herbs
ML19D Country Specific
ML19E Country Specific
ML19F Country Specific
ML19X Other
ML19Y Gave nothing
ML19Z Don't know if something else was done
Questions pertaining to ML23C and ML24C are no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variables are kept in the DHS VI recode.
ML23C First source for other anti-malarial
ML24C First source for antibiotic pill/syrup
Emotional violence
BASE: Women currently in union (V502 = 1).
D103A Spouse ever humiliated her.
D103B Spouse ever threatened her with harm.
D103C Spouse ever insulted her or made her feel bad.
D103D Country specific emotional abuse: ever.
D103E Country specific emotional abuse: ever.
D103F Country specific emotional abuse: ever.
Physical violence
BASE: Women currently in union (V502 = 1).
D105A Spouse ever pushed, shook or threw something.
D105B Spouse ever slapped.
D105C Spouse ever punched with fist or something harmful.
D105D Spouse ever kicked or dragged.
D105E Spouse ever tried to strangle or burn.
D105F Spouse ever threatened with knife/gun or other weapon.
D105G Spouse ever attacked with knife/gun or other weapon.
D105H Spouse ever physically forced sex when not wanted.
D105I Spouse ever forced other sexual acts when not wanted.
D105J Spouse ever twisted her arm or pulled her hair.
D105K Physical violence
D105L Physical violence
D105M Physical violence
D105N Physical violence
D106 Experienced any less severe violence.
D107 Experienced any severe violence.
D108 Experienced any sexual violence.
D112 Ever phys hurt husband when he was not hurting you.
D112A How often physically hurt husband in last 12 months.
D113 Partner drinks alcohol.
D114 Times partner gets drunk.
D130A Previous husband: ever hit, slap, kick or physically hurt respondent
D130B Previous husband: physically forced to have sex or to perform sexual acts
Final say
W104A Work
W104B Contraception
W104C Country Specific
W104D Country Specific
W104E Country Specific
W104F Country Specific
W104G Country Specific
W104H Country Specific
Family support
W117A Shelter
W117B Economic support
Possessions
W122A Land
W122B The dwelling
W122C Other dwelling
W122D Jewelry
W122E Livestock
W122F Country Specific
W122G Country Specific
W122H Country Specific
W122I Country Specific
W122J Country Specific
Bank account
W125A In own name
W125B Joint account
W125Y No bank account
W126 Operates her account
W127 Knowledge of loan programs
W128 Given a loan
Places permitted to go to
W130A Market
W130B Health center
W130C Community center
W130D Friends
W130E Religious places
W130F Outside the house
W130G Country Specific
W130H Country Specific
W130I Country Specific
W130J Country Specific
W130K Country Specific
Member of an association
W131A Religious
W131B Social
W131C Women's organization
W131D Labor union
March 22, 2013 DHS VI Individual recode
112
W131E Political
W131F Country Specific
W131G Country Specific
W131H Country Specific
W131X Other organization
W131Y No organization
W132 Votes
Respondents circumcision
BASE: Ever heard of female circumcision.
G102 Respondent circumcised.
G103 Flesh removed from genital area.
G104 Genital area just nicked without removing any flesh.
G105 Genital area sewn closed.
G106 Age at circumcision
G107 Who performed circumcision
Daughters circumcision
BASE: Women with at least one daughter circumcised.
G109 Line number of daughter most recently circumcised.
G110 Flesh removed from genital area of daughter.
G111 Genital area of daughter just nicked without removing flesh.
G112 Genital area of daughter sewn closed.
G113 Age of daughter at circumcision
G114 Who performed daughters circumcision
Benefits of circumcision
G117A Cleanliness/hygiene
G117B Social acceptance
G117C Better marriage prospects
G117D Virginity/prevent premarital sex
G117E More sexual pleasure for men
G117F Religious approval
G117G Country Specific
G117H Country Specific
G117I Country Specific
G117J Country Specific
G117X Other
G117Y No benefit
REC92 Country-specific variables from the birth history (REC21). Variable IDX92 is always
included as the first variable in this section and is equal to BIDX for each entry in the birth
history.
REC94 Country-specific variables from the maternity history (REC41). Variable IDX94 is always
included as the first variable in this section and is equal to MIDX for each entry in the
maternity history.
REC95 Country-specific variables from the health history (REC43). Variable IDX95 is always
included as the first variable in this section and is equal to HIDX for each entry in the
health history.
REC96 Country-specific variables from the height and weight table (REC44). Variable IDX96 is
always included as the first variable in this section and is equal to HWIDX for each entry
in the height and weight table.
REC97-99 The last three country-specific sections are not assigned to any particular section of the
questionnaire, but are used for additional modules not usually incorporated in the
questionnaires. These include the respondent's work history, the diagnoses of deaths for
dead children who were born in the three/five years preceding the interview, pregnancy
history, or for husband's questionnaires.
MCASEID Case identification is used to uniquely identify each respondent. In most surveys this is
constructed by concatenating the cluster or sample point number, the household number and
the respondent's line number, but in some surveys this may be the questionnaire number
taken from the front page of the questionnaire.
MV000 This alphabetic country code is used to identify the survey from which the data were
collected. The code is based on an international standard code. This variable is 3 characters
in length, with the third character indicating the format of the recode file used for this survey.
For all surveys in DHS VI this code will be 6. For example: HT6 is Haiti, KH6 is
Cambodia.
MV001 Cluster number is the number identifying the sample point as used during the fieldwork.
This variable may be a composite of several variables in the questionnaire. If so, the non-
standard variables are included in MREC91 as country-specific variables.
MV002 Household number is the number identifying the household in which the respondent was
interviewed, within the sample point. In some cases, this variable may be the combination of
dwelling number and household number within dwelling. In these cases, the original
variables are included as country-specific variables.
MV004 Ultimate area unit is a number assigned to each sample point to identify the ultimate area
units used in the collection of data. This variable is usually the same as the cluster number,
but may be a sequentially numbered variable for samples with a more complicated structure.
MV005 Sample weight is an 8 digit variable with 6 implied decimal places. To use the sample
weight divide it by 1000000 before applying the weighting factor. All sample weights are
normalized such that the weighted number of cases is identical to the unweighted number of
cases when using the full dataset with no selection. This variable should be used to weight
all tabulations produced using the data file. For self-weighting samples this variable is equal
to 1000000.
MV008 Century month code of date of interview (see note on century month codes).
MV011 Century month code of date of birth of the respondent (see note on century month codes).
MV012 Current age in completed years is calculated from the century month code of the date of birth
of the respondent (MV011) and the century month code of the date of interview (MV008). In
a few cases the age in the data file will be different from that reported by the respondent
when the respondent's birthday was in the month of interview, but he had not yet had his
birthday. If the respondent correctly reported his age at his last birthday (and not his age at
his next birthday) then the calculated age was rounded up from the reported age, to avoid
inconsistencies between the age and the century month code for the birth.
MV014 Completeness of information for the date of birth of the respondent (see note on imputed
dates)
MV015 Result of individual interview. Code 1 represents a completed interview. For all other cases,
only MREC01 will exist in the data file. For flat format data files, cases with a result code
different than 1 are dropped from the file.
MV021 Primary sampling unit is a number assigned to sample points to identify the primary
sampling units for use in the calculation of sampling errors. This variable is usually the
same as the cluster number and/or the ultimate area unit, but may differ if the sample design
required a multistage selection process.
MV022 Sample strata for sampling errors defines the pairings or groupings of primary sampling units
used in the calculation of sampling errors when using the Taylor series expansion method.
MV023 The stratification used in the sample design is the basic geographic units within which the
sample was designed. For example, if the sample was designed to be self-weighting within
region, this variable would define those regions; if the sample was designed to be self-
weighting within major urban areas, other urban areas and rural areas, this variable would
define the major urban, other urban and rural areas. If the sample is self-weighted at the
national level, this variable is code 0.
MV024 De facto region of residence: This is a copy of MV101, added to this section to allow for
analysis of completion rates by region.
MV025 De facto type of place of residence: This is a copy of MV102, added to this section to allow
for analysis of completion rates by urban/rural residence.
MV026 De facto place of residence is the type of place in which the respondent was interviewed.
This is a copy of MV134, added to this section to allow for analysis of completion rates by
type of place of residence. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire,
but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
MV033 Ultimate area unit selection probability is the probability of selection of the ultimate area
unit, ignoring the household selection. This variable can be used in conjunction with data for
the sample point, such as service availability data.
MV034 Line numbers of wives as recorded in the household schedule. This is a multiple variable
with entries for up to 8 wives. This variable can be used, in conjunction with the cluster or
sample point number and the household number to match the men=s data with the women=s
data, to allow for the analysis of couples. An entry with the value 0 means the wife was not
listed as a member of the household.
MV034A Mens wife or partner. For each of the women listed in MV034, it gives her status being
either wife or partner of the men. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
MV035 Number of wives or partners for whom line numbers are given in MV034.
MV801 Time of the start of the interview. The first two digits give the time in hours using the 24-
hour clock, and the last two digits give the minutes within that hour.
MV802 Time of the end of interview is coded as for the start of interview.
MV803 Length of interview in minutes is calculated from the previous two variables for interviews
requiring only one visit. Interviews that required more than one visit are coded 96.
MV101 De facto region of residence. Region in which the respondent was interviewed. Codes are
country-specific. For de jure region of residence, see MV139.
MV102 De facto type of place of residence. Type of place of residence where the respondent was
interviewed as either urban or rural. Note that this is not the respondent's own
categorization, but was created based on whether the cluster or sample point number is
defined as urban or rural. See also MV134. For de jure type of place of residence, see
MV140.
MV103 Childhood place of residence is classified into city, town and countryside as reported by the
respondent. In some countries, additional codes are used for capital/major cities (code 0) and
for abroad (code 4). This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the
variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
MV104 Number of years the respondent has lived in the village, town, or city where he was
interviewed. Visitors to the community are coded 96. This question is no longer part of the
DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
MV105 Type of place of previous residence is coded as for MV103. In some countries, additional
codes are used for capital/major cities (code 0) and for abroad (code 4). This question is no
longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: All respondents except those answering "Always" or "Visitor" to MV104
(MV104 <> 95 & MV104 <> 96).
MV106 Highest education level attended. This is a standardized variable providing level of
education in the following categories: No education, Primary, Secondary, Higher. In some
countries the educational system does not fit naturally within this scheme and a different
categorization was used for the Final Report. In this case, this variable is constructed as
accurately as possible from the country's own scheme and the variable used for the Final
Report is included as a country-specific variable.
MV107 Highest year of education gives the years of education completed at the level given in
MV106.
BASE: All respondents except those answering "No education" or with missing data for
MV106 (MV106 <> 0 & MV106 <> 9).
MV130 Religion. Both the question and the codes are country-specific.
MV131 Ethnicity. Both the question and the codes are country-specific.
MV133 Education in single years. This variable is constructed from the educational level (MV106)
and the grade at that level (MV107) as follows:
MV106 = > MV133
0 => 0
1 => MV107
2 => MV107+x
3 => MV107+y
9 => 99
x = years to complete primary education
y = years to complete primary and secondary education
where both x and y are country-specific.
MV134 De facto place of residence is the type of place in which the respondent was interviewed.
Urban areas are classified into large cities (capital cities and cities with over 1 million
population), small cities (population over 50,000), and towns (other urban areas), and all
rural areas are assumed to be countryside. Note that this classification differs from that used
in DHS I. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable
is kept in the DHS VI recode.
MV135 Whether the respondent is a usual resident of the household or is just visiting the household.
Responses of "Visitor" to MV104 are visitors to the city, town or village where the interview
took place, but MV135 shows respondents who were visitors to the household.
MV136 Total number of household members is the number of usual residents plus the number of
visitors who slept in the house the previous night that were listed in the household schedule.
MV138 Number of eligible men in the household. Eligible men are usually defined to be men aged
15-59 who slept in the household the previous night, irrespective of whether they usually
reside in the household or are visiting the household. In some countries an ever-married
sample is used for the individual interview, and so the eligibility criteria is further restricted
to husbands of eligible women.
MV149 Educational achievement recodes the education of the respondent into the following
categories: None, incomplete primary, complete primary, incomplete secondary, complete
secondary, higher education. See related variables MV106, MV107, MV133.
MV150 Relationship to the head of the household. These data are taken from the household
schedule.
MV151 Sex of the head of the household
MV152 Age of the head of the household
Literacy
MV155 The respondent is asked to read a written sentence and the interviewer would note whether
the respondent could read it or not at all.
MV156 Ever participated in a literacy program outside of primary. This question is no longer part of
the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
Media
MV157 Frequency of reading newspaper or magazine
MV158 Frequency of listening to radio
MV159 Frequency of watching television
March 22, 2013 DHS VI Individual recode
122
Var Model Description
Travel
MV167 Times away from home in last 12 months
MV168 Away for more than one month
Wealth index
MV190 Wealth index. For a brief explanation see HV270.
MV191 Wealth index factor score (5 decimals)
MV218 Total number of living children is the sum of variables MV202 to MV205.
MV225 At the time the respondent=s partner became pregnant with the current pregnancy, whether
the current pregnancy was wanted then, later or not at all. This question is no longer part of
the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Respondent=s whose partner is currently pregnant (MV213 = 1).
Childrens fathering
MV245 Number of women the respondent fathered the children with.
MV246 Married to the mother of the first child when he was born. This question is no longer part of
the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
Youngest child
MV247 Age
MV248 Antenatal check-ups for the mother
MV249 Respondent present during check-ups
MV250 Place of birth
MV251 Reason for not delivering in health facility. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI
core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
MV301 Knowledge of any method is classified into modern, traditional and folkloric methods as
follows: Modern methods are Pill, IUD, Injections, Diaphragm, Condom, Female
Sterilization, Male Sterilization, Implants, Lactational amenorrhea, Female condom and
Foam/Jelly. Traditional methods are Periodic Abstinence (Rhythm), Withdrawal, and
Abstinence. Folkloric methods are the category "other" and any other country-specific
methods. If a respondent knows both, a traditional method and a modern method, then the
modern method takes priority and he is coded as knowing a modern method. Similarly, if a
man knows a traditional method and a folkloric method, the traditional method takes priority.
MV302 Ever use of a modern, traditional or folkloric method is created in the same way as MV301.
Contraceptive Table
The contraceptive table contains entries for 20 contraceptive methods, and for each entry gives
information relating to knowledge of the method, and ever use of the method. Entries 1 to 15 are
standard but entries 17 to 20 are used for country-specific methods. The methods relating to each
entry are as follows:
For Foam/Jelly, if questions about the methods are asked separately (for example, foaming tablets in
one set of questions and jelly in another set of questions), the original responses are recorded as
country-specific variables and the standard variables presented in this section are a composite of the
two sets of questions.
MV304 Knowledge of the method. If questions relating to the method were not asked in the
contraceptive table but was asked as a current method then code 7 is used and if the question
is not asked in a particular country then code 8 "Not asked" is used.
MV305 Whether the respondent has ever used the contraceptive method. This question is no longer
part of the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Respondents who knew of the method according to MV304.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Pill IUD Inj. Dia. Cond. F.S M.S P.A With Oth. Nor. Abst L.Am F.C. Foam CS1 CS2 CS3 CS4 CS5
M304A 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 1 2 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3
MV304 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 8 8 8 8
MV305 1 1
MV307 1 0
In this example the entries in the table are shown across the page while the variables in each entry are shown
down the page. The numbers shown above the method names are the occurrence or entry number associated
with that method. The respondent knew two methods, Condom and withdrawal. The respondent has used
Condoms and withdrawal and currently using condoms.
MV313 Type of contraceptive method categorizes the current contraceptive method as either a
modern method, a traditional method, or a folkloric method.
Condom use
MV323A Brand of condom used.
MV325B Cost of condoms last time obtained. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
MV372A Shown condom package. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core questionnaire,
but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
Sources of Contraception.
Whether the respondent has heard about family planning in the last few months from any of
the following sources:
MV384A On the radio
MV384B On the television
MV384C In a newspaper or magazine
MV3A09B How many condoms did get last time. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
Tobacco smoking
MV463A Cigarettes
MV463B Pipe
MV463C Chewing tobacco.
MV463D Snuff
MV463E Country specific
MV463F Country specific
MV463G Country specific
MV463X Other
MV463Z Nothing
Transmission of Tuberculosis
BASE: Ever heard of Tuberculosis (MV474 = 1).
MV474A Air when coughing or sneezing.
MV474B Sharing utensils.
MV474C Touching a person with TB.
MV474D Tuberculosis spread through food.
MV474E Sexual contact
MV474F Mosquito bites
MV474G Country specific
MV474H Country specific
MV474I Country specific
MV474J Country specific
MV474X Other
MV474Z Don't know.
Male circumcision
MV483 Whether the respondent circumcised.
MV483A Age at circumcision
MV483B Who performed the circumcision
MV483C Place where circumcision was done
MV502 Whether the respondent is currently, formerly or never married (or lived with a partner).
Currently married includes married men and men living with a partner, and formerly married
includes widowed, divorced, separated men and men who have lived with a partner but are
not now living with a partner.
MV503 Whether the respondent has been married or lived with a woman once or more than once.
BASE: Ever-married men (MV501 <> 0).
MV505 The number of wives the respondent currently has. This is the number of wives and live-in
partners.
BASE: Currently married or in union men (MV502 = 1).
MV507 Month of start of first marriage or union (see note on imputed dates)
MV508 Year of start of first marriage or union (see note on imputed dates); This variable occupies 4
digits
MV509 Century month code of the date of start of first marriage or union (see note on century month
codes).
MV510 Completeness of information for the date of start of the first marriage or union (see note on
imputed dates)
MV511 Age at start of first marriage or union is calculated from the century month code of the date
of start of first marriage or union and the century month code of the date of birth of the
respondent.
MV512 Years since start of first marriage or union is calculated from the century month code of the
start of first marriage or union and the century month code of the date of interview.
MV513 Marital duration is actually the number of years elapsed since the start of the first marriage or
union until the date of interview grouped into five-year groups, irrespective of whether the
respondent is still married to his first partner.
Sexual intercourse
Variables MV525 to MV528 relate to age at first intercourse, frequency of intercourse and
time since last sexual relations. BASE (for variables MV527 to MV532): Respondents who
have had sexual intercourse (MV525 <> 0).
MV525 Age at first sexual intercourse ( Respondents who had never had sex are coded 0)
MV527 Time since the last sexual relations as reported by the respondent: The first digit gives the
units in which the respondent gave his answer: 1 - Days ago, 2 - Weeks ago, 3 - Months ago,
4 - Years ago, with 9 meaning a special answer was given. The last two digits give the time
in the units given. Any value for time greater than 90 is a special answer.
MV528 Time since last intercourse - grouped. The time since last intercourse after 31 days was
grouped into the category 31. The special answers were kept the same as in the variable
MV527.
MV529 Time since last intercourse imputed: Values are given in number of months. However, in
this variable too, the special values were not modified and kept the same values as in
MV527.
MV531 Age at first sexual intercourse imputed: This is the same as MV525, except for respondents
who reported that their first sexual intercourse was at the time of their union. For these
cases, the age at first sex is taken from the age at first union. In cases where the age at first
sex was inconsistent with the age at conception of the first child, but only by one year (V532
= 3), the age at first sex was reduced by one year, consistent with the "Rule of one" applied
in DHS I which is the correction of the data if the error is no more than a month. Other cases
flagged as inconsistent on variable V532 (codes 1, 2, 4, 5) are recoded as 97 (inconsistent).
Cases coded 6 on V532 are not changed.
MV532 Flag variable for inconsistencies found in editing the responses for MV525.
0 No flag
1 Respondent reported age at first sexual intercourse that exceeds his current age
2 Respondent reported his age at first sexual intercourse as occurring more than one
year after the conception of his first child
3 Respondent reported his age at first sexual intercourse as occurring up to one year
after the conception of his first child
4 Respondent reported that his first sexual intercourse was at the time of his first
marriage, but the respondent was never married
5 Respondent reported that his first sexual intercourse was at the time of his first
marriage, but his first marriage occurred after the conception of his first child
6 Respondent reported his first sexual intercourse as being after his first marriage
MV535 Whether the respondent has ever been married or lived with a woman.
BASE: Men who are not currently married and not living with a woman (MV502 <> 1).
MV536 Whether the respondent had sex and whether it was during the last 4 weeks (recent sexual
activity).
MV541 Intend to wait until married to have sex. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
MV602 Fertility preferences.. This variable comes from a single question but recoded later
depending on the mens status. Sterilized men are recoded 4, men whom the partner cant get
pregnant are recoded 5, men who never had sex are recoded 6, and men who are not in union
are recoded 8.
BASE: All men.
MV603 Preferred waiting time before the birth of another child is created from a single question
asking how long from the date of interview the respondent would like to wait before the birth
of the next child. In some countries there may be some additional non-numeric responses to
the question of how long to wait before the next birth. These are assigned additional codes
on a country-specific basis.
BASE: All men who want another child (MV602 = 1).
MV604 The preferred waiting time to the next birth is grouped into 12-month categories with
responses of more than six years coded as 6+ years. Non-numeric responses are coded into
one group (7 "Non-numeric"), but with "Don't know" and missing responses in their own
categories (8 & 9). The additional response "Soon/Now" is not grouped with the other non-
numeric codes, but is recoded as less than one year waiting time.
BASE: All men who want another child (MV602 = 1).
MV605 Desire for more children is a constructed variable classifying respondents who want more
children by whether they want the next child soon (less than 2 years) or they want the next
child later (2+ years). In some countries, men who had never had sexual intercourse were
not asked the questions relating to desire for future children, and are coded 8 on V605.
BASE: All men.
MV613 The ideal number of children that the respondent would have liked to have in his whole life,
irrespective of the number he already has. In many countries it was possible for a respondent
to reply to this question with a range of values, in which case this variable contains the
midpoint between these values. If the midpoint is not an exact number then the number is
rounded up in half the cases and rounded down for the other half. In situations where a
range of values was collected, the original variables are included as country-specific
variables. In some countries, additional country-specific categories are included, such as "It
depends on God" or "As many as I can support" and are given country-specific codes.
MV614 This variable groups the preceding variable such that 6 or more children are in one category
6+ and all non-numeric responses are coded 7.
MV616 This variable records the original response to the question "How long would you like to wait
from now before the birth of another child?" The first digit gives the units in which the
respondent answered (1 indicates months, 2 indicates years, and 9 indicates a special
response), while the last two digits give the time in those units. If the units value is 9 then
the variable contains a special response, and if the duration value is greater than 90 this also
indicates a special response. For example, code 994 is used for the responses "Soon/Now",
and code 299 would mean that the response was given in years but the actual duration was
missing on the questionnaire.
BASE: All men who want another child (MV602 = 1), plus those originally responding that
they want another child, but then say their partner cannot get pregnant (see also MV602).
MV621 Whether the respondent believes his partner wants the same number of children, more
children or fewer children than he wants herself.
BASE: Currently married or in union men (MV502 = 1).
Husbands rights
MV634A Get angry
MV634B Refuse financial support
MV634C Use force for unwanted sex
MV634D Have sex with another women
MV717 Standardized respondent's occupation groups; agricultural categories also include fishermen,
foresters and hunters and are not the basis for selection of agricultural/non-agricultural
workers. In countries, where it is not possible to differentiate between self-employed
agricultural workers and agricultural employees, no attempt has been made to use other
information, and code 4 has been used for both categories. The analyst may wish to use
other related information to differentiate between these two categories.
BASE: Men who are currently working or who have worked in the last 12 months
(MV731 = 1 or MV731 = 2).
MV719 Whether the respondent works for a family member, for someone else or is self-employed.
BASE: Men currently working (MV731 = 1 or MV731 = 2).
MV732 Whether the respondent works throughout the year, seasonally, or just occasionally.
BASE: Men who are currently working or who have worked in the past year (MV731 = 1 or
MV731 = 2).
MV740 Whether the respondent works on his own land, family land, rented land, or on someone
else's land.
BASE: Men who are currently working or who have worked in the last 12 months, and who
work or worked in agriculture (MV716 = country-specific agricultural category).
MV756 Whether the respondent believes it is possible for a healthy-looking person to have the AIDS
virus.
BASE: Men who have heard of AIDS (MV751 = 1).
MV761 Whether the respondent used a condom the last time he had sexual intercourse.
BASE: Men who have ever had sexual intercourse (MV525 <> 0).
MV766A Number of women other than the wife the respondent had sex with in last 12 months.
MV766B Number of women the respondent had sex with including his wife in last 12 months.
AIDS tests
MV781 Ever been tested
MV783 Know a place to get AIDS test
MV820 Condom use at first sexual intercourse. This question is no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
BASE: Youth 15-24 who ever had sex.
MV822 Wife justified asking husband to use condom if he has an STI.
Get AIDS
MV823 Can get AIDS by witchcraft or supernatural means.
AIDS Test
The questions pertaining to MV826 and MV827 are no longer part of the DHS VI core
questionnaire, but the variables are kept in the DHS VI recode.
MV826 The last time the respondent was tested
MV826A Months ago most recent HIV test
MV837 Heard of drugs to help infected people to live longer. This question is no longer part of
March 22, 2013 DHS VI Individual recode
142
Var Model Description
the DHS VI core questionnaire, but the variable is kept in the DHS VI recode.
MV852A How long ago first had sex with most recent partner
MV852B How long ago first had sex with 2nd most recent partner
MV852C How long ago first had sex with 3rd most recent partner
MV853A Times in last 12 months had sex with most recent partner
MV853B Times in last 12 months had sex with 2nd most recent partner
MV853C Times in last 12 months had sex with 3rd most recent partner
Concurrency
For information on concurrency please refer to Concurrent Sexual Partnerships and HIV
Infection: Evidence from National Population Based Surveys, DHS Working Papers No.
62, 2009 by Vinod Mishra and Simona Bignami-Van Asshe. This publication can be
downloaded from measuredhs.com.
MV854A Concurrent sexual partners
MV854B Cumulative concurrent sexual partners
Benefits of circumcision
BASE: Ever heard of circumcision (MG100 = 1 or MG101 = 1).
MG117A Cleanliness/hygiene
MG117B Social acceptance
MG117C Better marriage prospects
MG117D Preserve virginity, prevent premarital sex
MG117E More sexual pleasure for men
MG117F Religious approval
MG117G Country specific
MG117H Country specific
MG117I Country specific
MG117J Country specific
MG117X Other
MG117Y No benefit
MREC92-93 The last two country-specific sections are not assigned to any particular section of the questionnaire, but are
used for additional modules not usually incorporated in the questionnaire.
A Themme
3/22/2013
1
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
AH106 -> HV237A-HV237Z : What do you usually do to make water safe to drink
AH107 -> HV205 : Type of toilet facility
AH108 -> HV225 : Share facilities with other households
AH109 -> HV238 : Number of households sharing toilet
AH110A -> HV206 : Electricity
AH110B -> HV207 : Radio
AH110C -> HV208 : Television
AH110D -> HV243A : Mobile telephone
AH110E -> HV221 : Telephone (non-mobile)
AH110F -> HV209 : Refrigerator
AH111 -> HV226 : Type of cooking fuel
AH112 -> HV241 : Food cooked in the house / in separate building / outdoors
AH113 -> HV242 : Household has separate room used as kitchen
AH114 -> HV213 : Main material of floor
AH115 -> HV215 : Main roof material
AH116 -> HV214 : Main wall material
AH117 -> HV216 : Number of rooms used for sleeping
AH118A -> HV243B : Watch
AH118B -> HV210 : Bicycle
AH118C -> HV211 : Motorcycle or Scooter
AH118D -> HV243C : Animal-drawn cart
AH118E -> HV212 : Car or Truck
AH118F -> HV243D : Boat with a motor
AH119 -> HV244 : Own land usable for agriculture
AH120 -> HV245 : Hectares for agricultural land
AH121 -> HV246 : Livestock, herds or farm animals
AH122A -> HV246A : Cattle
AH122B -> HV246B : Cows / bulls
AH122C -> HV246C : Horses / donkeys / mules
AH122D -> HV246D : Goats
AH122E -> HV246E : Sheep
AH122F -> HV246F : Chickens
AH123 -> HV247 : Bank account
AH124 -> HV253 : Has dwelling been sprayed against mosquitoes in last 12 months
AH125 -> in HV253A-Z : Company or organization who sprayed dwelling
AH126 -> HV227 : Mosquito nets used while sleeping
AH127 -> HML1/HML1A : Number of mosquito nets
AH137 -> HV230A : Place where household members wash their hands
AH138 -> HV230B : Presence of water at hand washing place
AH139A -> HV232 : Items present: Soap or detergent
AH139B -> HV232B : Items present: Ash, mud, sand
AH139C -> HV232Y : Items present: None
AH140 -> HV234A : Test salt for Iodine
2
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
3
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
4
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
5
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
6
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
7
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
8
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
9
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
10
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
A917 -> in V829, V842 : Place were AIDS test was taken as part of antenatal visit
A918 -> in V828, V841 : Got results of AIDS test as part of antenatal visit
A919 -> V855 : Received counseling after tested for AIDS during antenatal
care
A921 -> V839A : Offered HIV test just before delivery in medical center
A922 -> V840A, V781 : Tested for HIV between the time went for delivery and before
baby was born
A923 -> V841A, in V828 : Got results of HIV test when tested before baby was born
A924 -> V843 : Tested for AIDS virus since test as part of antenatal visit
A925 -> in V826A : Months ago most recent HIV test
A926 -> in V781 : Ever been tested for AIDS virus (home delivery)
A927 -> in V826A : When was last time you were tested for AIDS virus
A928 -> in V828 : Did get the test results of AIDS test
A929 -> in V829 : Place of AIDS test
A930 -> V783 : Know a place to be tested for AIDS virus
A931 -> V784A:V784X : Place known for AIDS test
A932 -> V825 : Would buy vegetables from vendor with AIDS
A933 -> V777 : AIDS infected family member kept secret
A934 -> V778 : Willing to care for AIDS infected relative in household
A935 -> V779 : Female teacher with AIDS virus allowed to continue teaching
A936 -> V780 : Children 12-14 should be taught about condoms
A937 -> in V750, V785 : Heard about other STDs
A940 -> V763A : Had an STD in last 12 months
A941 -> V763C : Had abnormal genital discharge in last 12 months
A942 -> V763B : Had a genital sore or ulcer in last 12 months
A944 -> V770 : Sought advice or treatment for STD
A945 -> V770A:V770X : Place for advice or treatment of STD
A946 -> V822 : Wife is justified to ask use of condom when husband has STD
A947 -> V633B-REC61 : Wife is justified to refuse sex when knows husband has sex
with other women
A949 -> V850A : Can respondent refuse sex
A950 -> V850B : Can ask partner to use condom
11
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
12
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
13
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
14
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
15
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
AM426(1) -> not used : Sexual intercourse with any other partner in last 12 months
AM417U(3) -> in MV832B : Time since last sex with 2nd to last partner (unit)
AM417N(3) -> in MV832B : Time since last sex with 2nd to last partner (number)
AM418(3) -> MV761B : Used condom during last intercourse with 2nd to last partner
AM419(3) -> MV833B : Used condom every time with 2nd to last partner
AM420(3) -> MV767B : Relationship with 2nd to last partner
AM423U(3) -> in MV852B : How long ago first had sex with 2nd to last partner (unit)
AM423N(3) -> in MV852B : How long ago first had sex with 2nd to last partner (number)
AM424(3) -> MV853B : Times in last 12 months had sex with 2nd to last partner
AM425(3) -> MV834B : Age of 2nd to last partner
AM426(3) -> not used : Sexual intercourse with any other partner in last 12 months
AM417U(3) -> in MV832C : Time since last sex with 3rd to last partner (unit)
AM417N(3) -> in MV832C : Time since last sex with 3rd to last partner (number)
AM418(3) -> MV761C : Used condom during last intercourse with 3rd to last partner
AM419(3) -> MV833C : Used condom every time with 3rd to last partner
AM420(3) -> MV767C : Relationship with 3rd to last partner
AM423U(3) -> in MV852C : How long ago first had sex with 3rd to last partner (unit)
AM423N(3) -> in MV852C : How long ago first had sex with 3rd to last partner (number)
AM424(3) -> MV853C : Times in last 12 months had sex with 3rd to last partner
AM425(3) -> MV834C : Age of 3rd to last partner
AM426(3) -> not used : Sexual intercourse with any other partner in last 12 months
AM427 -> MV766B : Total number of partners in the last 12 months
AM430 -> MV793 : In the last 12 months, paid for sex
AM431 -> MV791 : Have ever paid anyone in exchange for sex
AM432 -> MV793A : Used condom last paid for sex
AM433 -> MV793B : Condom used every time paid for sex
AM434 -> MV836 : Number of lifetime sexual partners
AM436 -> MV323A : Brand of condom used during last sex
AM437 -> MV3B17 : Place obtained condom last time
AM438 -> in MV312 : Used FP during last intercourse
AM439 -> MV307, in MV312 : Contraceptive method
AM411C -> MV509 : Date of first union (CMC)
AM411F -> MV510 : Date flag for AM411C
AM414F -> MV532 : Flag for AM414
16
Questionnaire -> Recode : From Core Questionnaire to Standard Recode
CCIQ61 -> CCIR61 : DHS-VI Core
17