Definition
POPDENSITY_2010 reports the population density - people per square kilometer of land area - within a 5 kilometer circular buffer around each DHS cluster location, in 2010. The population density statistics are available for the following years: 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020. POPDENSITY_2010 is available for every IPUMS-DHS sample with GPS data. POPDENSITY_2010 can be used as an indicator of urban versus rural status, with the cut-off levels for these categories decided by the researcher, and greater consistency in measurement than the DHS URBAN variable.
Please see the User Note on Using IPUMS-DHS Contextual Variables: POPDENSITY_2010 [URL omitted from DDI.] for more information about this variable, including data sources and methodology. This variable, like the other IPUMS-DHS contextual variables, is based on sources outside The DHS Program, with values around DHS sample cluster points calculated by IPUMS-DHS staff.