Calibrating Census Microdata against Gold Standard Surveys: Kenya 1999 (Fertility) and Mexico 2000 (Female Labor Force)

Robert McCaa, University of Minnesota
Murungaru Kimani, University of Kenya
Albert Esteve, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona
Jose Rodolfo Gutierrez-Montes, University of Minnesota and Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
Gabriela Vazquez-Benitez, University of Minnesota

The IPUMS-International project disseminates nationally representative samples of anonymized, harmonized census microdata for Colombia, France, Kenya, Mexico, Vietnam and the USA, totaling, at present, some 50 million records. Releases for a rapidly growing list of countries are planned. Aside from the USA, census microdata are difficult to access and are often discounted as unreliable. This paper compares harmonized census microdata against “gold standard” surveys conducted near the census dates for the 2000 round enumerations in Kenya and Mexico. Census microdata provide surprising insights at both the national and regional levels on the changing demographic and economic conditions in the two countries. Strengths and weaknesses of microdata from surveys and censuses are compared.