About DHS

Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) are nationally-representative household surveys with large sample sizes (usually between 5,000 and 30,000 households). DHS surveys provide data for a wide range of monitoring and impact evaluation indicators in the areas of population, health, and nutrition.

Typically, DHS surveys are conducted every 5 years, to allow comparisons over time. Interim Surveys focus on the collection of information on key performance monitoring indicators but may not include data for all impact evaluation measures (such as mortality rates). These surveys are conducted between rounds of DHS surveys and have shorter questionnaires than DHS surveys. Although nationally representative, these surveys have smaller samples than DHS surveys (2,000-3,000 households).

The standard DHS survey consists of a household questionnaire and a women's questionnaire. A nationally representative sample of women age 15-49 is interviewed.

 

Process

Demographic and Health Surveys are executed in four stages:

1. Survey Preparation and Questionnaire Design (months 1-6)

The first step involves preparatory activities, including designing the sample and developing the survey questionnaires to meet specific host-country needs.

The core questionnaire for MEASURE DHS emphasizes basic indicators and flexibility. Its compact size allows for the addition of special modules, which are added to many DHS surveys on topics that are not included in the core questionnaire but that reflect the needs of individual countries. The survey instruments are then translated into local languages, pretested, and finalized.

2. Training and Fieldwork (months 7-11)

The second stage involves training field staff and conducting fieldwork. Eligible households and individual respondents are identified and interviewed.

3. Data Processing (months 8-16)

The third stage involves data processing, including editing, coding, and entering and verifying the data as well as checking them for consistency. This stage usually begins after the beginning of fieldwork.

4. Final Report, Data Preparation and Dissemination (months 14-20)

The final stage involves analyzing the data, preparing the final report, and disseminating the survey results in country. This stage usually begins following the completion of fieldwork.

 

DHS Surveys

Egypt | Jordan | Morocco | Tunisia | Sudan | Yemen

 

Questionaires

DHS surveys are designed to collect data on marriage, fertility, family planning, reproductive health, child health, and HIV/AIDS. Due to the subject matter of the survey, women of reproductive age (15-49) are the focus of the survey. Women eligible for an individual interview are identified through the households selected in the sample. Consequently, all DHS surveys utilize a minimum of two questionnaires-a Household Questionnaire and a Women's Questionnaire

Questionnaires are organized by the phase of the DHS contract under which they were developed.

1. Phase 5 (Current Phase: 2003 - Present)
2. Phase 4 (1997-2003)
3. Phase 3 (1992-1997)
4. Phase 2 (1988-1993)
5. Phase 1(1984-1989)

Download Phase 5
Download Phase 4 Model A, Model B
Download Phase 3 Model A, Model B
Download Phase 2 Model A, Model B
Download Phase 1 Model A, Model B

Household Questionaire

The household questionnaire contains information on the following topics:

• Household listing
• Household characteristics
• Nutritional status and anemia

Women's Questionaire

Two versions of the core women's questionnaire are available: the "A" core for use in countries with high contraceptive prevalence, and the "B" core for use in countries with low contraceptive prevalence The women's questionnaire contains information on the following topics:

• Background characteristics
• Reproductive behavior and intentions
• Contraception
• Antenatal, delivery, and postpartum care
• Breastfeeding and nutrition
• Children's health
• Status of women
• AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections
• Husband's background
• Other topics

 

Modules

It was also recognized that some countries have a need for special information on topics that are not contained in the core questionnaires. To accommodate this need and to achieve some level of comparability across countries that applied them, optional questionnaire modules were developed on a series of topics:

• Consanguinity (DOC, 21 KB)
• Domestic violence (DOC, 89 KB)
• Female genital cutting (DOC, 51 KB)
• Malaria (DOC, 143 KB)
• Maternal mortality (DOC, 59 KB)
• Pill failure and behavior (DOC, 32 KB)
• Sterilization experience (DOC, 33 KB)
• Women's Status (WPD, 54 KB)

 

Manuals

Manuals are a set of basic documentation to go with the model questionnaires

1. Interviewer Manual

This manual is designed to explain to interviewers how to do their job. The manual complements the 2005 versions of the DHS Model Survey Questionnaires and includes information about implementation of the survey, training activities, and fieldwork procedures. It discusses in detail interview techniques and procedures for completeing the questionnaires.

Interviewer Manual

2. Supervisor's and Editor's Manual

This manual is designed to explain to field supervisors and field editors how to do their jobs. The instructions for both positions have been combined into one manual because supervisors and field editors are expected to share many activities, e.g.., editing questionnaires and tracking interviewers' performance. The manual complements the 2005 versions of the DHS Model Survey Questionnaires.

Supervisor & Editor Manual

3. Guidelines for the Main Survey Report

The Guidelines for the Main Survey Report (also known as the Tabulation Plan) provides model tables that set forth the major findings of a survey in a manner that will be useful to policy makers and program managers. The data are presented in terms of national level statistics and for population subgroups such as those defined by age, education, marital status, economic status, urban/rural residence and region of the country. When appropriate to a topic, further data desegregations are shown.

The Guidelines complement the 2005 versions of the DHS Model Survey Questionnaires. They consists of over 175 tables contained in 16 substantive chapters.

Guidelines for the Main Survey Report

 

Guides

Below is a list of resources to aid in analysis including Recode Manuals, data file descriptions, and naming conventions

1. DHS Recode Manual

The Recode Manual provides the information necessary to understand these datasets. It describes each data file and contains its associated dictionary and documentation. Each data file and its associated dictionary and documentation are distributed in archived ZIP files. Users are strongly encouraged to download the DHS recode manual for use with all recode files.

DHS Recode Manual

2. File Naming Convention

Data files are named according to the following convention:

• CC - country code
• DD - data type
• VV - data version
• FF - data file format
• XXX - file extension

Additional explanation about naming convention

3. Guide to DHS Statistics

This guide is a tool for DHS data users. It may be used to get a better understanding of DHS data structure and analysis. It can also be used as a reference document for users who have to deal with data generated from the database of a DHS survey.

Guide to DHS Statistics

4. DHS Data Editing and Imputation

This paper presents the methodology used by DHS for the production of edited data files. The paper focuses primarily on the editing of dates of events, and the imputation of incomplete dates. The paper discusses various approaches to the problems of partial and inconsistent data, and the need for procedures to handle these data.

Data Editing & Imputation