Hello forum,
I was wondering if there’s a way to find out whether the variable “Korea” in BPL (ACS birthplace variable) includes North Korea and South Korea or it is just South Korea?
Thanks!
Since 2005, the data published by the Census Bureau has not had separate codes for North and South Korea. Therefore, anyone reporting a birthplace in North or South Korea is coded as being born in “Korea” (BPL = 50200). However, in the 1980, 1990, and 2000 censuses, as well in the ACS between 2001-2004, respondents who stated that they were born in North or South Korea were assigned both the standard code for Korea as well as separate codes in the detailed version of BPL (automatically included in any extract with BPL). One way to see this is to open the Codes tab for BPL and select both “Case-count view” and “Detailed codes”. You’ll also notice that the values for North and South Korea never sum to the total number for Korea as there are some respondents who report just Korea as their birthplace.
I hope that’s helpful