A. Death (para. 57.)

Death is the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after live birth has taken place (postnatal cessation of vital functions without capability of resuscitation) (This definition does not apply to foetal deaths).

B. Infant death (Glossary)

Infant death is death of a child under one year of age.

C. Children ever born (para. 2.180)

2.180. Information on number of children born alive (lifetime fertility) should
include all children born alive (that is to say, excluding foetal deaths) during the lifetime
of the woman concerned up to the census date. The number recorded should
include all live-born children, whether born in or out of marriage, whether born in
the present or a prior marriage, or in a de facto union, or whether living or dead at the
time of the census.

D. Children living (para. 2.186)

2.186. Data on children living, in conjunction with those on children ever
born are used in indirect estimation of infant and child mortality in situations where
there are no reliable data from a civil registration. It is expected that improved coverage
and quality of data on the total number of children ever born will be achieved if
more detailed questions about the current residence of children ever born are asked,
in terms of the following:
(a) “Total number of sons living in the household”;
(b) “Total number of sons living elsewhere”;
(c) “Total number of sons born alive who have died before the census date”;
(d) “Total number of daughters living in the household”;
(e) “Total number of daughters living elsewhere”;
(f) “Total number of daughters born alive who have died before the census
date”.
These questions not only give a more complete and accurate reporting of children ever
born alive specified by sex but also increase the questions’ suitability for subsequent
analysis.

E. Date of birth of last child born alive (paras. 2.188 and 2.191)

2.188. Information on date of birth (day, month and year) of the last child born
alive and on the sex of the child is used for estimating current fertility. This item can
be useful as a means of deriving both national and subnational fertility estimates. In
countries lacking adequate data from civil registration, sample surveys have become a
major source of information for estimating national fertility levels, but surveys usually
do not permit the derivation of reliable estimates at subnational levels.

2.191. A census question on “date of birth of last child born alive” should always
be paired with a simple follow-up question about whether the child is still alive, which
yields data that can be used for studying child mortality. Although this pair of questions
does not produce a valid estimate of the infant mortality rate (since the numerator
excludes infant deaths occurring below age 1 in the past 12 months among children
born 1-2 years before the census date), it can provide useful information on differences
in child survival by age of mother or other socio-economic characteristics.

F. Age, date or duration of first marriage (para. 2.192)

2.192. Date of first marriage comprises the day, month and year when the first
marriage took place. In countries where date of first marriage is difficult to obtain, it is
advisable to collect information on age at marriage or on how many years ago the marriage
took place (duration of marriage). Include not only contractual first marriages
and de facto unions but also customary marriages and religious marriages. For women
who are widowed, separated or divorced at the time of the census, “date of/age at/
number of years since dissolution of first marriage” should be secured. Information on
dissolution of first marriage (if pertinent) provides data necessary to calculate “duration
of first marriage” as a derived topic at the processing stage. In countries in which
duration of marriage is reported more reliably than age, tabulations of children ever
born by duration of marriage yield better fertility estimates than those based on data
on children born alive classified by age of the woman.56 Data on duration of marriage
can be obtained by subtracting the age at marriage from the current age, or directly
from the number of years elapsed since the marriage took place.

G. Age of mother at birth of first child ever born (para. 2.193)

2.193. Age of mother at the time of the birth of her first live-born child is used
for the indirect estimation of fertility based on first births and to provide information
on onset of childbearing and also for the indirect estimation of child mortality. If the
topic is included in the census, information should be obtained for each woman who
has had at least one child born alive.

H. Household deaths in the past 12 months(paras. 2.194 - 2.195)

2.194. Information on household deaths in the past 12 months classified by
sex of deceased and age at death is used to estimate the level and pattern of mortality
in countries that lack satisfactory continuous death statistics from civil registration. In
order for estimation derived from this item to be reliable, it is important that all deaths
to household members occurring during the 12 months preceding enumeration be
reported as completely and as accurately as possible. Typically, reports of deaths in censuses underestimate the overall number of deaths if only because some deaths result
in the disintegration of households so that household survivors, if any, may not report
their occurrence (in particular, deaths of persons living alone at the time of death are
unlikely to be reported). Nevertheless, provided that there are no serious errors in the
reporting of age at death, estimates of completeness of death reporting can be derived
via indirect estimation and adequate mortality estimates obtained.

2.195. Ideally, mortality should be sought for each household in terms of
the total number of deaths in the 12-month period prior to the census date. For
each deceased person reported, name, age, sex, date (day, month, and year) of death
should also be collected. Care should be taken to clearly specify the reference period
to the respondent so as to avoid errors due to its misinterpretation. For example, a
precise reference period could be defined in terms of a festive or historic date for
each country.

I. Maternal or paternal orphanhood (paras. 2.199 - 2.201)

2.199. Some countries may also wish to collect information on maternal or
paternal orphanhood in another attempt to ascertain the level and patterns of mortality
in the population. Census data from these two topics are intended for indirect estimation
of mortality by sex. Estimates are based on the proportion of persons classified
by age whose natural mothers or fathers are still alive at the time of the census.

2.200. For the collection of information on orphanhood, two direct questions
should be asked, namely (a) whether the natural mother of the person enumerated
in the household is still alive at the time of the census, and (b) whether the natural
father of the person enumerated in the household is still alive at the time of the census,
regardless of whether or not the mother and father are enumerated in the same
household. The investigation should secure information on biological parents. Thus,
care should be taken to exclude adopting and fostering parents. It should be kept in
mind, however, that overcounting may occur in the case of parents with more than one
surviving child among the respondents, particularly in high fertility societies.

2.201. It is preferable for these questions to be collected from every person in
the household regardless of age.