Interviewer instructions
VI Civil State
With this section, the distribution of the population according to its current civil state, number of unions (marriages or free unions), age of the first union, and average time in the first union are known.
This section is applied to all people 12 years old or older.
6.2 Number of unions
The goal of this question is to know the number of unions (legal or not) that each person has had until the moment of the interview, including the current or last union.
Unions are matrimonies (civil, religious or both), and consensual or free unions that each person has had up to the moment of the interview.
Read the complete question and write down the answer in the respective space, considering that 1 to 8 correspond to the number of unions, if more exist, write down 8.
[graphic of the question from the census form]
[p. 115]
9 is for when an informant declares "does not know" and is registered after trying all other possibilities.
Here it is important to consider the following aspects:
When a situation is presented in which a person has lived in free union with a pair, but later this union becomes legal, religious or both, it is considered a single union.
If an informant tells you that the person has been united or married with a pair, but that also they have been separated for some time (one or more occasions), consider that this person has only had one union.
If when asking the question for the first time, it is not understood, it can be adapted only in the following cases:
Case 1
If civil state corresponds to a free union and the informant does not understand question 6.2, adapt it as follows:
"Apart from this union, have you had any other?"
Case 2
If the civil state is married and the informant does not understand question 6.2, ask it in the following way:
"Apart from this marriage, have you had any other union?"
In both cases, if the answer is "yes" ask:
How many unions?
If an informant responds "one" write down the current, plus the previous, that is, 2.
If the answer in "no" write down 1, that is, a single union.
