Interviewer instructions
P - 6 Age
13. Age is a very important personal characteristic that we are concerned with in the Census. Two columns are provided for entering the age. For all those persons who are one year old or older, the age will be entered in completed years and '00' will be entered for babies less than a year. The age will be entered in two digits, 01, 02, 09, 10, 11,. . .89. Those who are 90 years and over will have age 90 entered.
[Example is omitted here.]
14. In some cases the question on age will not create many problems. Almost all persons who have been to school know their age. Where there may be some doubt, ages of children can be reasonably estimated by looking at them and comparing them to other children of known ages in the household.
15. Some people will, however, not know their ages. In such cases you will have to estimate their ages. Ask such a person how long he has been
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living in this area, about what time in his life he came here, what he did then, for how long, how old he was when he left his parents' home, etc. In this manner you can build his life history. It is also possible to determine his age by referring to some historical events that he may remember, e.g., how old he was when the Lusaka-Mongu road was built by the Chinese, or when the name of Feira boma was changed to Luangwa, or when a certain chief died, or when Katima Mulilo Pontoon disaster occurred, or when Mufulira Mine disaster occurred or when Zambia became independent, etc. Such historical events are meant to help a respondent remember how old he may have been when they were occurring. Do not rely completely on a single event. You should also check this with a later event. A Calendar of events will be issued to you to help you estimate the ages of such people.
16. If you have already ascertained the age of some other member of the household or of a neighbour, this may be of considerable help in determining the ages of other members of the household. For example, if you have estimated that the eldest son of the head of the household is 12 years old, you may be able to determine the ages of the other children by finding out how many years elapsed between the births of the different children.
17. In case you are only given the year of birth and no month, even after probing, calculate the age by subtracting the year of birth from 1990.
[Example is omitted here.]