Definition
HHNUM (V002) is the number identifying the household in which the respondent was
interviewed, within each sample.
To identify unique households in most samples, researchers must use HHNUM with CLUSTERNO (V001).
For most samples, HHNUM and CLUSTERNO can be used to merge IPUMS-DHS data from the women's file to DHS Household Recode files, to incorporate household variables not yet available in the IPUMS-DHS. However, in some household files, HHNUM and CLUSTERNO do not uniquely identify households in the DHS Household Recode file.
For information about the IPUMS-DHS samples where HHNUM and CLUSTERNO are not sufficient to uniquely identify households, and for guidance on what further steps to take for linking files in such cases, please consult the User Note on Linking. [URL omitted from DDI.]