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Population Census 1996

South Africa, 1996
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Reference ID
ZAF_1996_PHC_v01_M
Producer(s)
Statistics South Africa
Collection(s)
DataFirst , University of Cape Town, South Africa
Metadata
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Created on
Jan 27, 2012
Last modified
May 01, 2014
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Population group (race)

Data file: SA Census 1996 Person_v01

Overview

Valid: 0
Invalid: 0
Type: Discrete
Decimal: 0
Width: 8
Range: 1 - 9
Format: Numeric

Questions and instructions

Literal question
Household questionnaire: Q5 How would (the person) describe him-/herself?

Personal questionnaire: Q5 How would this person describe him-herself?

Special enumeration questionnaire: C6 Population Group
Categories
Value Category
1 African/Black
2 Coloured
3 Indian/Asian
4 White
9 Unspecified
Warning: these figures indicate the number of cases found in the data file. They cannot be interpreted as summary statistics of the population of interest.

Description

Definition
This variable reflects the population group (race) of the enumerated person.
Universe
All persons at night between Wednesday 9 October and Thursday 10 October 1996.
Source of information
South African Census 1996 household and personal, summary book for hostels or special enumeration questionnaire - completed by the enumerator or the respondent

Others

Notes
The question asked ‘How would the person describe him/herself?’ Thus population group reflects the respondent’s chosen identification and does not reflect any ‘official’ definition. Interviewers were instructed: ‘Accept the response that is given even if you don’t agree’.

Only four options were provided on the questionnaire (African/Black, Coloured, Indian/Asian and White). Respondents were not given an option of ‘Other’.

During Census ’96 when some people whom identified as Griquas requested to be identified as a separate population group. At short notice, instructions were changed to allow interviewers to write ‘5 Griqua’ on the questionnaire and these responses were coded separately. However, the number of people identifying themselves as Griqua was small and represented an under-identification of the number of people who would have been identified as Griquas if there had been such a category on the questionnaire to indicate that this was a valid response. People identifying as ‘Griqua’ have been included with ‘Unspecified’.
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