African Women 
bibliographic database
| Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | Challenges of population census enumeration in Africa: an illustration with the age-sex data of The Gambia |
| Author: | Mba, Chuks J. |
| Year: | 2004 |
| Periodical: | Research Review (ISSN 0855-4412) |
| Volume: | 20 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 9-19 |
| Language: | English |
| Notes: | biblio. refs. |
| Geographic terms: | Gambia Africa |
| Subjects: | censuses 1973 1983 1993 Demographics demography Census social policy economic policy |
| Abstract: | Development planning is essentially predicated on the collection of accurate age and sex data. However, adequate statistical data for planning is lacking for many African countries. Based on data from the three national censuses conducted in The Gambia in 1973, 1983 and 1993, this paper assesses the quality of the age-sex data in these censuses, focusing on the levels and trends of error over this period. In order to provide a clear picture of the extent of distortion which may have occurred, the data presented in single years of age are first evaluated, using the Whipple's, Myers', and Bachi's indexes. The Whipple's index has remained at over 230 over the period, while the Myers' and Bachi's indexes have fluctuated around 44 and 29, respectively. The results show that there were biases from inaccurate age reporting and recording between 1973 and 1993. A closer examination of the age distribution is carried out by trying to curtail part of the erratic fluctuations in the single-year age distribution through grouping the data in quinary ages, and applying the United Nation age-sex accuracy index. This index yielded 92 in 1973, 87 in 1983, and 76 in 1993, indicating that the quality of the age-sex data is still poor in The Gambia. However, age data for males are more accurate than for females. Bibliogr., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract, edited] |