IPUMS International – Page 2

IPUMS International has brand new low level geographic variables and shapefiles

September 22, 2022July 8, 2022 by mpcblog

By Quinn Heimann

Map showing percentage of households with internet access in the 2014 Myanmar census by township — Map of Myanmar Internet Access

An ongoing goal and challenge for IPUMS-International (IPUMSI) is providing users with the most detailed geography possible. A unique obstacle to this is the confidentiality requirements agreed upon in order to distribute these census and survey samples. Nevertheless, IPUMSI has started launching lower-level geographic variables in samples where data is sufficient and confidentiality thresholds are still met. As of spring 2022, twenty samples have been released with third administrative level geographic data, covering ten countries across Africa and Asia. In addition, accompanying shapefiles are also being distributed to supplement these variables. Shapefiles can be used in conjunction with these more granular geographic variables to map out population trends in greater detail.

Screenshot to IPUMS International third level download page — IPUMSI third level download page

Many of these countries have multiple samples with lower level geography variables available. It is always a goal of IPUMSI to provide users with as much detail as possible for each sample, but this is sometimes hindered by a lack of sufficient data or detail. Some countries, such as Bangladesh and Mali, contain sufficient detail to provide lower level geography for all available samples in IPUMSI. More recent samples often contain more detail and more thorough documentation, whereas oftentimes this level of information is not present for samples produced longer ago.

IPUMS International 2022 Data Release

April 29, 2022April 28, 2022 by mpcblog

By Jane Lyon Lee, IPUMS International

IPUMS International has added 7 new census samples and new labor force surveys including the first-time data release from the Slovak Republic and historical samples from Egypt 1848 and 1868. The other newly added samples extend pre-existing series. The growing IPUMSI labor force survey collection has expanded with the addition of quarterly surveys from Mexico (ENOE 2005-2020) and more data from Spain & Italy. See a summary of the full IPUMS collection on the IPUMSI samples page.

IPUMS Announces 2020 Research Award Recipients

September 29, 2021May 17, 2021 by mpcblog

IPUMS is excited to announce the winners of its annual IPUMS Research Awards. These awards honor the best-published research and nominated graduate student papers from 2020 that used IPUMS data to advance or deepen our understanding of social and demographic processes.

IPUMS, developed by and housed at the University of Minnesota, is the world’s largest individual-level population database, providing harmonized data on people in the U.S. and around the world to researchers at no cost.

There are six award categories, and each is tied to the following IPUMS projects:

IPUMS USA, providing data from the U.S. decennial censuses, the American Community Survey, and IPUMS CPS from 1850 to the present.
IPUMS International, providing harmonized data contributed by more than 100 international statistical office partners; it currently includes information on 500 million people in more than 200 censuses from around the world, from 1960 forward.
IPUMS Health Surveys, which makes available the U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).
IPUMS Spatial, covering IPUMS NHGIS and IPUMS Terra. NHGIS includes GIS boundary files from 1790 to the present; Terra provides data on population and the environment from 1960 to the present.
IPUMS Global Health: providing harmonized data from the Demographic and Health Surveys and the Performance Monitoring and Accountability surveys, for low and middle-income countries from the 1980s to the present.
IPUMS Time Use, providing time diary data from the U.S. and around the world from 1965 to the present.

Over 2,500 publications based on IPUMS data appeared in journals, magazines, and newspapers worldwide last year. From these publications and from nominated graduate student papers, the award committees selected the 2020 honorees.

Where was IPUMSI in 2020?

September 29, 2021March 22, 2021 by mpcblog

By Jane Lyon Lee, IPUMS International

Last March, when the IPUMS International research team attended the 51st Meeting of the UN Statistical Commission, we were just beginning to hear about the spread of a novel virus. We soon discovered that the Commission meeting would be our last in-person event of the year. Soon after, a pandemic quickly paralyzed our world, including the ever-important census and survey work. We all were called on to seek out and, in some cases, create new paths via which data collection, protection, analysis, and dissemination could continue.

2021 IPUMSI New Data Release Highlights

December 21, 2021December 30, 2020 by mpcblog

IPUMS International has added 19 new census samples and new labor force surveys. First-time data release countries include four new countries from four different continents—Finland, Mauritius, Myanmar, and Suriname. Other newly added samples extend pre-existing series. Another first is the addition of labor force surveys from Spain and Italy. See a summary of the full IPUMS collection on the IPUMSI samples page.

In addition to the new data, check out the usage-enhancing highlights that are part of this recent release.

Spatially-harmonized migration variables
New work variables that maximize the utility of newly-harmonized labor force surveys
New disability variables per The Washington Group recommendations
Access to harmonization tables and code for registered IPUMS data users
Population density variables for all samples with the requisite geography- POPDENSGEO1 and POPDENSGEO2 capture the population density in persons per square kilometer of the first and second administrative units of the household, respectively.
Variables AREAMOLLWGEO1 and AREAMOLLWGEO2 provided for additional convenience
New lower level single-sample variables for select countries, as well as regionalized variables and shapefiles at the 3rd administrative level for Senegal 2013 and 2002, South Africa 2016, 2011, and 2007, and Uganda 2014, and Myanmar 2014

IPUMS provides demographic data for international COVID-19 research

December 21, 2021September 15, 2020 by mpcblog

By Lara Cleveland

Since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, researchers across the globe have been accessing census microdata from IPUMS International for COVID-19-related research. Scholars at universities from the U.S. to Nepal, Columbia to Belgium, Nigeria to China, and elsewhere have used IPUMS data to assess population dynamics contributing to COVID-19 vulnerability or spread. Divisions of the United Nations, World Bank, and other policy research institutes have similarly accessed IPUMS census data for COVID response and relief efforts.

IPUMS International harmonizes and disseminates household-level microdata census samples from more than 100 countries. Access to microdata is essential for rapid response in new areas because of its analytic flexibility. Researchers needing to build custom tables or construct variables for complex modeling suited to specific research questions can only do that with microdata. Of particular interest for research on population dynamics of COVID-19 is information about the age structure of the population, household living arrangements (household size, intergenerational co-residence, etc.), indicators of health vulnerability (age, work status, housing conditions, disability, etc.), healthcare workforce distribution, and migration patterns. IPUMS International census samples also include valuable subnational geographic identifiers at the first and second administrative levels, which are especially useful for highlighting particular regions or localities of vulnerability.

IPUMS in Malaysia

December 18, 2019October 28, 2019 by mpcblog

In August, the IPUMS International team traveled to the International Statistical Institute World Statistics Congress 2019 (ISI-WSC) in Kuala Lumpur. In addition to the IPUMS exhibit booth and the hands-on workshop during the conference (from August 18-23), IPUMS International enjoyed facilitating several pre-conference activities.