DHS Variables available in IPUMS-DHS but not in the original DHS files

1

Hi,

I am currently exploring land/home ownership of women in sub-Saharan Africa using DHS data. I have noticed that for some samples (e.g., Malawi 2010-11; Tanzania 2004-05) the variables v745a and v745b (“femownhouse” and “femownland”) are available and have case counts for different categories when downloading the samples from IPUMS-DHS. However, the variables are not available in the files downloaded directly from the DHS program (all NA). I am curious to know why this discrepancy might arise?

Thanks,

Maria

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While FEMOWNHOUSE corresponds to v745a and FEMOWNLAND corresponds to v745b for the vast majority of samples, Malawi 2010 and Tanzania 2004 are one of the few where the DHS program uses a different mnemonic. In Malawi 2010, FEMOWNHOUSE is s826a and FEMOWNLAND is s826b. In Tanzania 2004, FEMOWNHOUSE is w122b and FEMOWNLAND is w122a. The original mnemonic applies for all of the other Malawi and Tanzania samples.

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Thanks Ivan, that is super helpful! I also noticed that for Tanzania 2010, the coding is the same as for Malawi 2010 (FEMOWNHOUSE is s826a and FEMOWNLAND is s826b).

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