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Regional Population Growth [message #9821] Wed, 25 May 2016 12:31 Go to next message
saral is currently offline  saral
Messages: 1
Registered: May 2016
Member
I want to calculate a recent rate of population growth within a small rural region of Kenya. If the GIS locations of respondents line up such that the same region was surveyed during two different waves of data collection, is it possible for me to use the population weights to estimate the number of individuals in the region during each survey wave? And, with this information, would it be valid for me to then calculate the regional rate of population growth?

Thanks very much for any advice you have... I'm a DHS novice and look forward to growing my skills with these datasets.
Re: Regional Population Growth [message #9969 is a reply to message #9821] Thu, 09 June 2016 10:08 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Liz-DHS
Messages: 1516
Registered: February 2013
Senior Member
Dear User,
A response from senior sampler, Dr. Ruilin Ren:
Quote:

It is not a good idea to use the DHS data for estimating population changes either at the regional level or at the national level. The DHS survey is not designed for such kind of comparison. The DHS weights are relative weights so it is not valid for estimating population totals, nor for population difference.


Please feel free to post again if you have additional questions.
Thank you!

[Updated on: Thu, 09 June 2016 10:12]

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Re: Regional Population Growth [message #9973 is a reply to message #9821] Fri, 10 June 2016 08:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Liz-DHS
Messages: 1516
Registered: February 2013
Senior Member
Dear User,
An interpretation of your question from Dr. Tom Pullum:
Quote:

"It's my impression that, because of the DHS sampling scheme, I can't compare population sizes from one DHS wave to another, even if the GIS locations correspond to my villages of interest. Is that correct? That the sample doesn't allow me to scale up and use that number to estimate regional population with accuracy?"

If that's the question, then the answer is yes, you are correct. DHS data cannot be used to make inferences about population growth, especially at the level you are hoping for. There's really nothing else to be said. The estimates would have to come from the NBS.

Tom
Re: Regional Population Growth [message #14591 is a reply to message #9821] Sun, 22 April 2018 01:43 Go to previous message
kingx025 is currently offline  kingx025
Messages: 95
Registered: August 2016
Location: Minneapolis. Minnesota
Senior Member
If you want to accurately calculate regional population growth, you are better off calculating this from the samples of international census data in IPUMS-International, which usually consist of larger samples of 10 percent of enumerated households. You can get to the IPUMS-International data here: https://international.ipums.org/international/
Generally the geographic identifiers are down to the second administrative level or lower.

Miriam King


Dr. Miriam King
IPUMS-DHS Project Manager (www.idhsdata.org)
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