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Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries (2005)

Chapter: Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

APPENDIX A
Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data

This appendix describes operational definitions adopted by the panel, approaches to data analysis, and chapter by chapter discussions of the specific data choices made and the reasons for those choices. The first section of the appendix presents data and methodological issues pertaining to the entire report as well as an introduction to Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data, which are the only data used extensively in more than one chapter. The second section describes the data and methods used in each of the chapters in Parts II and III of the report.

ENTIRE REPORT

Coverage

When data are presented in Chapters 3-8, countries are defined by the panel as developing if they fit the following criteria: (1) location in Africa, Asia, or Latin America and the Caribbean, using United Nations (UN) regional groupings, and (2) classification by the World Bank (2002b) as low, lower-middle, and upper-middle-income countries as of 2000. When the panel judged there to be sufficient coverage in terms of countries within regional groupings for a particular topic, regional averages were presented according to geographic and income categories. For the summary data on the size and distribution of young people in developing countries presented in Table 2-1, we use the United Nations definition of developing countries: “Less developed regions comprise all regions of Africa, Asia (except Japan),

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Latin America and the Caribbean plus Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia” (United Nations, 2003d:46).

Regional Groups

Geographical Categories: The panel grouped developing countries into eight geographic regions, which were constructed from the geographic subregions used by the United Nations for its population estimates and projections (United Nations, 2003b). For the purposes of the panel report, Latin America and the Caribbean consists of two subregions (the Caribbean and Central America1 and South America), sub-Saharan Africa consists of two subregions (Western and Middle Africa and Eastern and Southern Africa), Asia includes three subregions (Eastern Asia, South-central, and Southeastern Asia, and former Soviet Asia, which includes eight former Soviet countries from South-central and Western Asia), and the Middle East combines two subregions (Western Asia and Northern Africa). Wherever the data coverage was deemed sufficient to allow population-weighted estimates by geographic region, these are the categories used. This was typically the case for the DHS survey data as well as for the UN data base on marriage prevalence.

Income Groups: The World Bank classifies countries (“economies”) into four economic groups. In 2000 the range for each of these four groups was as follows: low income (gross national income of $755 or less), lower-middle income ($756 to $2,995), upper-middle income ($2,976 to $9,266), and high income ($9,267 or more) (World Bank 2002b).2 Whenever the data allowed estimates by country income category, the panel used the first three country income categories described above.

1  

Mexico is included in the Central America and Caribbean region even though in some international contexts (e.g., NAFTA) it is considered to be part of North America.

2  

Gross national income is in current U.S. dollars converted using the World Bank Atlas method. The purpose of the Atlas conversion factor is to reduce the impact of exchange rate fluctuations in the cross-country comparison of national incomes. A full explanation can be found on page 380 of World Bank (2002b). Updates of country income groupings on the World Bank Website: http://www.worldbank.org/data/countryclass/classgroups.htm as of September 30, 2002, led the panel to make a few adjustments to these country groupings, including shifting Korea into the high-income group (and therefore out of the developing country group) and adding East Timor in the low-income category, for which no data on income were provided in World Bank (2002b).

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Approaches to Data Analysis

Trends: The working group decided to concentrate primarily on data on recent trends, ideally the last two decades of the twentieth century wherever possible. In cases in which recent trend data were not available, we focused primarily on data that were sufficiently recent to characterize contemporary patterns and interrelationships.

Two approaches were used to measure trends: (1) a comparison of comparable data collected for surveys or censuses at two separate points in time, and (2) cross-cohort comparisons within a single recent survey based on the retrospective reporting of specific experiences or events during the transition to adulthood.

Age Ranges: The working group decided not to set a rigid range of ages but to explore broad age ranges that would allow a full exploration of transitions. For practical purposes, this usually meant concentrating on ages 10-24, but not always when transitions were found to continue until later ages. In several cases, constraints associated with available data limited our ability to analyze the most conceptually appropriate age group. For example, the DHS surveys restrict their samples of individual women or men, generally to the 15-49-year-old age range. The World Values Surveys do not interview youth younger than age 18. Mortality data by cause as estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) are presented only for an aggregated age group: 15-29.

Population Weights: To provide the basis for statements about broad regional and global trends in cases in which there were sufficient data from each regional grouping to allow some representativeness, data were aggregated by region and income level and weighted according to the size of the population of young people ages 10-24 in 2000 (United Nations, 2001). The aggregated data were produced by calculating a weighted average of a particular statistic using as a weight for each country the percentage of the population of young people from countries with available data that are estimated to reside in that country. When data are available for two periods in time, we weighted both figures with the UN 2000 population estimates. Holding the weight constant allows us to attribute any apparent change between the two years to changes in the indicator rather than changes in the weights (allowing us to look at the average change over the time span).

Demographic and Health Surveys

The panel used Demographic and Health Surveys extensively for Chapter 3 on schooling, for a few topics in Chapter 4 (sex and contraceptive

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

use), extensively in Chapter 7 on marriage, and exclusively in Chapter 8 on parenthood. Although other data on these topics are available, the DHS data have the special advantage of allowing comparative analysis over time and across countries while controlling for important social and economic factors like urban and rural residence, socioeconomic status, and education level.

For each topic treated, all DHS data from publicly accessible surveys fielded since 1990 that included data for the topic in question were used (see Table A-1). The number of countries included in each analysis varied from 49 to 52 in the education, marriage, and parenthood chapters to as few as 39 in the case of a few topics—sex and contraceptive use—presented in the health chapter. This smaller sample of countries was necessitated because data on these topics for adolescents were not available for countries in which the DHS data were limited to ever-married women samples.

Using the full sample of 52 countries, we can make certain generalizations about the timeliness and representativeness of the DHS. Survey years range from 1990 to 2001 and all but 7 of the 52 surveys were conducted post-1995. The median year of the 52 surveys is 1998. Fewer surveys (32) include data on men, mostly but not exclusively in Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa. The specific number of surveys included in each analysis varies for a variety of reasons, including (1) whether the survey interviewed all women regardless of marital status or only ever-married women of reproductive age, (2) whether a specific question was asked, and (3) whether the data were available at the time the tables were compiled.

Table A-1 provides a listing of all the DHS data sets included in the panel sample along with sample sizes. The sample sizes for the survey of women of reproductive age varied from a little over 3,000 for the small island of Comoros to over 90,000 for the most recent sample in India. Typically, the samples of men are much smaller in size. The DHS data also include a household roster with some basic data on all household members, including the schooling level and current schooling participation of all household members.

Together, the 52 DHS surveys of females provide representative data for 90 percent of the population of low-income countries as defined by the World Bank in 2000, 19 percent of the population in lower middle-income countries, and 53 percent of upper middle-income countries (see Table A-2 for regional and income categories). Thus, overall the DHS data are most representative of the experience in the poorest countries. In addition, DHS surveys of females are representative of the populations in Eastern and Southern Africa (92 percent), South-central and South-eastern Asia (86 percent), Western and Middle Africa (75 percent), South America (74 percent), and the former Soviet Asia (68 percent), but they are less representative of all women in the Middle East (55 percent) and the Caribbean and

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Central America (21 percent) (see Table A-2). They include no countries from Eastern Asia, most importantly China, which has over a fifth of the developing world’s young people.

DATA FOR INDIVIDUAL CHAPTERS

The panel’s working group on data reviewed data on each topic for quality and coverage before deciding whether or not to treat a topic and, when choices were available, determined which data were best to provide the most accurate and comprehensive information on a particular topic.

Chapter 3: Schooling

Since 1990, the Demographic and Health Surveys have included comparable questions on school attendance and attainment in all household surveys. In the absence of comparable census data, we have chosen to rely on DHS data for this report, supplemented when available by data on schooling from other household surveys to describe trends and patterns of schooling participation and attainment. These surveys allow us to calculate not only current schooling attendance rates, but also various cohort measures of schooling participation, grade attainment and progression between levels to estimate trends consistently over the past 20 years—a particular goal for the overall panel report. They also allow us to report current attendance figures according to household wealth categories and urban-rural residence. Before making this choice of data source as our primary source for the analysis of schooling patterns and trends, we carefully reviewed the pros and cons of United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) data versus DHS data. These considerations are discussed below.

These DHS data are supplemented for Latin America with a collection of household surveys assembled by the Inter-American Bank from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s that covers roughly 93 percent of the population of Latin America and includes more countries than available from DHS in the upper middle-income category (Behrman, Duryea, and Székely, 1999a) and for China with data on eight provinces from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (Hannum and Liu, 2005).3

The enrollment ratios published by UNESCO are the most widely used international statistics on education for measuring progress over time and

3  

Unfortunately, we were not able to acquire data from the 2000 China census that would allow us to make comparable tabulations.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

TABLE A-1 List of Countries with Recent DHS Surveys Used in Analysis, Including Estimates of Youth Population, Dates of Surveys, Sample Sizes, and Chapters in Which Data Were Used

Country

Survey Date(s)

Youth Population, 10-24

UN Data Base 2000 (in thousands)

Household Sample Size

Armenia

2000

1,068

5,980

Bangladesh

1999-2000

44,726

9,854

Benin

1996 (2001)

2,115

5,796

Bolivia

1998

2,601

12,109

Brazil

1996

50,868

13,283

Burkina Faso

1998-1999

3,976

4,812

Cameroon

1998

4,996

4,697

Central African Republic

1994-1995

1,199

5,551

Chad

1996-1997

2,491

6,840

Colombia

2000

12,346

10,907

Comoros

1996

240

2,252

Côte d’Ivoire

1998-1999

5,595

2,122

Dominican Republic

1996 (1999)

2,603

8,831

Egypt

2000

21,991

16,957

Ethiopia

1999

19,988

14,072

Gabon

2000

348

6,203

Ghana

1998-1999

6,581

6,003

Guatemala

1998-1999

3,830

5,587

Guinea

1999

2,637

5,090

Haiti

2000

2,881

9,595

India

1998-2000

298,291

92,486

Indonesia

1997

64,059

34,255

Jordan

1997

1,610

7,335

Kazakhstan

1999

4,631

5,844

Kenya

1998

11,306

8,380

Kyrgyz Republic

1997

1,533

3,672

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Female Sample Size 15-49

Male Sample Size*

Chapters in Which Data Were Used

Education

Health

Marriage

Parenthood

6,430

1,719

Y

Y

Y

Y

10,544**

2,556

Y

 

Y

Y

6,219

2,709

Y

Y

Y

Y (2001)

11,187

3,780

Y

Y

Y

Y

12,612

2,949

Y

Y

Y

Y

6,445

2,641

Y

Y

Y

Y

5,501

2,562

Y

Y

Y

Y

5,884

1,729

Y

Y

Y

Y

7,454

2,320

Y

Y

Y

Y

11,585

 

Y

Y

Y

Y

3,050

795

Y

Y

Y

Y

3,040

886

Y

Y

Y

Y

8,422

2,279

Y

Y

Y

Y

15,573

 

Y

 

Y

Y

15,367

2,607

Y

Y

Y

Y

6,183

2,004

 

 

Y

 

4,843

1,546

Y

Y

Y

Y

6,021

 

Y

Y

Y

Y

6,753

1,980

Y

Y

Y

Y

10,159

3,171

Y

Y

Y

Y

90,303

 

Y

 

Y

Y

28,810

Y

Y

Y

5,548

Y

Y

Y

4,800

1,440

Y

Y

Y

Y

7,881

3,407

Y

Y

Y

Y

3,848

 

Y

Y

Y

Y

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Country

Survey Date(s)

Youth Population, 10-24

UN Data Base 2000 (in thousands)

Household Sample Size

Madagascar

1997

5,025

7,171

Malawi

2000

3,722

14,213

Mali

2001

3,652

12,285

Morocco

1992

9,501

6,577

Mozambique

1997

5,848

9,282

Namibia

1992

572

4,101

Nepal

2001

7,152

8,602

Nicaragua

1997 (2001)

1,715

11,528

Niger

1998

3,505

5,928

Nigeria

1999

37,637

7,647

Pakistan

1990-1991

44,432

7,193

Paraguay

1990

1,751

5,683

Peru

2000

8,058

28,900

Philippines

1998

24,319

12,407

Rwanda

2000

2,689

9,696

Senegal

1992-1993 (1997)

3,082

3,528

South Africa

1998-2000

13,715

12,247

Togo

1998

1,496

7,517

Turkey

1998

19,311

8,059

Uganda

2000-2001

7,757

7,885

United Republic of Tanzania

1999

11,845

7,000

Uzbekistan

1996

8,152

3,703

Vietnam

1997

25,053

7,001

Yemen

1991-1992

5,563

12,836

Zambia

1996-1997 (2001-2002)

3,521

7,286

Zimbabwe

1999

4,489

6,369

NOTE: Y = Yes.

* Male sample age ranges vary by country, falling within 12-70 years.

** Female sample age range 10-49 for this country.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Female Sample Size 15-49

Male Sample Size*

Chapters in Which Data Were Used

Education

Health

Marriage

Parenthood

7,060

 

Y

Y

Y

Y

13,220

3,092

Y

Y

Y

Y

12,817

3,390

Y

Y

Y

Y

9,256

1,336

Y

 

Y

Y

8,779

2,335

Y

Y

Y

Y

5,421

 

Y

Y

Y

Y

8,726

2,261

Y

 

Y

Y

13,634

2,912

Y

Y

Y

Y (2001)

7,577

3,542

Y

Y

Y

Y

9,810**

2,680

Y

Y

Y

Y

6,611

1,354

Y

 

Y

Y

5,827

 

 

Y

Y

Y

27,843

 

Y

Y

Y

Y

13,983

 

Y

 

Y

Y

10,421

2,717

Y

Y

Y

Y

6,310

1,436

Y

Y (1997)

Y (1997)

Y (1997)

11,735

 

Y

Y

Y

Y

8,569

3,819

Y

Y

Y

Y

8,576

1,971

 

Y

Y

Y

7,246

1,962

Y

Y

Y

Y

4,029

6,000

Y

 

Y

Y

4,415

 

Y

Y

Y

Y

5,664

 

Y

 

Y

Y

5,687

 

 

 

Y

Y

8,021

1,849

Y

Y

Y

Y

5,907

2,609

Y

Y

Y

Y

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

TABLE A-2 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)

Country

Sorted by Region

Regiona

Most Recent Survey

* = includes Male Survey

Dominican Republic

Carib/CA

1996

*

Guatemala

Carib/CA

1998-1999

 

Haiti

Carib/CA

2000

*

Nicaragua

Carib/CA

1997-1998

*

Comoros

E/S Africa

1996

*

Ethiopia

E/S Africa

1999

*

Kenya

E/S Africa

1998

*

Madagascar

E/S Africa

1997

 

Malawi

E/S Africa

2000

*

Mozambique

E/S Africa

1997

*

Namibia

E/S Africa

1992

 

Rwanda

E/S Africa

2000

South Africa

E/S Africa

1998

Tanzania

E/S Africa

1999

*

Uganda

E/S Africa

2000-2001

*

Zambia

E/S Africa

1996-1997

*

Zimbabwe

E/S Africa

1999

*

Egypt

ME

2000

 

Jordan

ME

1997

Morocco

ME

1992

Turkey

ME

1998

*b

Yemen

ME

1991-1992

 

Bolivia

SA

1998

*

Brazil

SA

1996

*

Colombia

SA

2000

 

Paraguay

SA

1990

Peru

SA

2000

*

Bangladesh

SC/SE Asia

1999-2000

 

India

SC/SE Asia

1998-2000

Indonesia

SC/SE Asia

1997

Nepal

SC/SE Asia

2000-2001

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Country

Sorted by World Bank Income Categories

Income

Most Recent Survey

* = includes Male Survey

Armenia

Low

2000

*b

Bangladesh

Low

1999-2000

 

Benin

Low

1996

*

Burkina Faso

Low

1998-1999

*

Cameroon

Low

1998

*

Central African Republic

Low

1994-1995

*

Chad

Low

1996-1997

*

Comoros

Low

1996

*

Côte d’Ivoire

Low

1998-1999

*

Ethiopia

Low

1999

*

Ghana

Low

1998-1999

*

Guinea

Low

1999

*

Haiti

Low

2000

*

India

Low

1998-2000

 

Indonesia

Low

1997

Kenya

Low

1998

*

Kyrgyz Republic

Low

1997

 

Madagascar

Low

1997

Malawi

Low

2000

*

Mali

Low

2001

*

Mozambique

Low

1997

*

Nepal

Low

2000-2001

 

Nicaragua

Low

1997-1998

*

Niger

Low

1998

*

Nigeria

Low

1999

*

Pakistan

Low

1990-1991

 

Rwanda

Low

2000

Senegal

Low

1997

*

Tanzania

Low

1999

*

Togo

Low

1998

*

Uganda

Low

2000-2001

*

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Country

Sorted by Region

Regiona

Most Recent Survey

* = includes Male Survey

Pakistan

SC/SE Asia

1990-1991

 

Philippines

SC/SE Asia

1998

Vietnam

SC/SE Asia

1997

Armenia

Soviet

2000

*b

Kazakhstan

Soviet

1999

*b

Kyrgyz Republic

Soviet

1997

 

Uzbekistan

Soviet

1996

Benin

W/M Africa

1996

*

Burkina Faso

W/M Africa

1998-1999

*

Cameroon

W/M Africa

1998

*

Central African Republic

W/M Africa

1994-1995

*

Chad

W/M Africa

1996-1997

*

Cote d’Ivoire

W/M Africa

1998-1999

*

Gabon

W/M Africa

2000

*c

Ghana

W/M Africa

1998-1999

*

Guinea

W/M

Africa 1999

*

Mali

W/M Africa

2001

*

Niger

W/M Africa

1998

*

Nigeria

W/M Africa

1999

*

Senegal

W/M Africa

1997

*

Togo

W/M Africa

1998

*

aKey: Carib/CA (Caribbean and Central America); E/S Africa (Eastern and Southern Africa); ME (Middle East [Northern Africa and Western Asia]); SA (South America); SC/SE Asia (South-central and South-eastern Asia); Soviet (Former Soviet Asia); W/M Africa (Western and Middle Africa).

bMale survey data are available for these countries, but not in sufficient number to allow aggregation of data to generate regional averages.

for making cross-national comparisons. Annual enrollment data provided by UNESCO are based on enrollments as reported officially by schools to national ministries of education. These annual enrollment counts are divided by United Nations estimates for the population for the year and ages in question to derive gross or net enrollment ratios for each level of schooling. Gross enrollment ratios, which are available for almost all countries for

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Country

Sorted by World Bank Income Categories

Income

Most Recent Survey

* = includes Male Survey

Uzbekistan

Low

1996

 

Vietnam

Low

1997

Yemen

Low

1991-1992

Zambia

Low

1996-1997

*

Zimbabwe

Low

1999

*

Bolivia

Lower middle

1998

*

Colombia

Lower middle

2000

 

Dominican Republic

Lower middle

1996

*

Egypt

Lower middle

2000

 

Guatemala

Lower middle

1998-1999

Jordan

Lower middle

1997

Kazakhstan

Lower middle

1999

*b

Morocco

Lower middle

1992

 

Namibia

Lower middle

1992

Paraguay

Lower middle

1990

Peru

Lower middle

2000

*

Philippines

Lower middle

1998

 

Brazil

Upper middle

1996

*

Gabon

Upper middle

2000

*c

South Africa

Upper middle

1998

 

Turkey

Upper middle

1998

*b

cGabon data on women unavailable at time of this analysis; data on men do not include schooling.

NOTE: Middle East, South-central, and South-eastern Asia are excluded from marriage chapter Table 7-9 because the surveys are based on ever-married samples.

multiple decades, relate enrollment in primary or secondary levels regardless of age to the population age group appropriate to each level of schooling. Net enrollment ratios, which are confined to those enrolled in the eligible age range, are conceptually cleaner but less widely available particularly for earlier years, because many countries have not collected data on enrollment by age. Because these data are school based, they have

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

the potential to be broken down into geographic subgroupings but not by household characteristics, such as wealth.

These enrollment data vary in quality according to the quality of the management information systems in each country. The development of good systems is a continuing challenge in many parts of the developing world (Moulton et al., 2001). School reform efforts, which often include improvements in management information systems that make current data more accurate, may compromise comparability over time. Furthermore, in some settings in which financial flows to schools are a function of the level of enrollment, there can be a substantial motivation to inflate reported enrollments.

Some of the shortcomings of UNESCO enrollment data have been discussed in the literature (Behrman and Rosenzweig, 1994; Hewett and Lloyd, 2005; Lloyd, Mensch, and Clark, 2000). While some researchers feel comfortable relying on the enrollment data from UNESCO for trends and cross-country comparisons (e.g., Behrman and Sengupta, 2002), others doubt that the inherent biases in the data are sufficiently consistent across countries or over time to permit firm comparative conclusions about levels, trends, and differentials (Hewett and Lloyd, 2005; Lloyd et al., 2000).

With the establishment of the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) in 2001, the international community has taken some important steps to improve systems of reporting on literacy and schooling, including launching several special initiatives with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank to strengthen the collection and reporting of comparative statistics and indicators. The World Education Indicators program (WEI) launched in 1997 is one example. This program now includes 17 developing countries (Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Malaysia, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, and Zimbabwe). Eventually this program will permit comparisons between developed and developing country data on a more consistent basis. Recently, Bruns, Mingat, and Rakotomalala (2003) from the World Bank have used UNESCO data to calculate a primary school completion ratio using data from UNESCO on end of year enrollments in the last year of primary school (if available) or beginning-of-year enrollment data for the last year of primary school adjusted for repeaters. These estimates of numbers graduating from primary school are divided by UN estimates of the population of official graduation age to simulate a completion rate and are available now to assess changes in the 1990s.

Relative to data on enrollment from UNESCO, data on school attendance and attainment derived from censuses and national sample surveys have some advantages and some disadvantages. The major advantages in-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

clude (1) the fact that the data for the numerator and the denominator of any indicator are based on the same underlying population, thus allowing the construction of proper cohort-specific indicators on a consistent basis over time, (2) that data collected from households are more likely to capture current attendance rather than opening-day enrollment, thus providing a much more realistic measure of school participation, and (3) that attendance rates from household data can be compared by household income or wealth groups as well as other household characteristics. The disadvantages of household data include the facts that (1) they often are only collected periodically rather than annually, (2) differential mortality across education groups can bias the estimation of trends,4 and (3) in the case of household surveys, changing sample frames over time can compromise the comparability of successive surveys. Despite their advantages, household survey data rarely have been used for comparative analysis of educational trends, because of their lack of accessibility on a comparable basis. There has never been an international education survey program similar to the DHS program. Census data are published with a huge lag and, despite much UN technical assistance over the years, often lack comparability when presented in tabular form in printed reports (Lloyd et al., 2000).5 The fact that DHS data were collected on schooling on a comparable basis has allowed us to take advantages of some of the benefits offered by household data for the study of trends in schooling across countries and regions. See Table A-1 for the list of countries included in the presentation of data on schooling.

The data presented on standardized text scores come primarily from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2001) and from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) undertaken in 1999 by the International Study Center at Boston College—both international efforts with some participation of developing countries.

4  

When using cross-sectional cohort data to estimate trends, there is the danger that growth in schooling attainment will be underestimated if there is differential mortality by schooling in the relevant age groups. Given that we are comparing age groups between 10-14 and 30-34, for which group mortality rates are relatively low, this is unlikely to be a serious source of bias (Lloyd et al., 2000).

5  

There are several current efforts to make census data more accessible: Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS, http://www.ipums.umn.edu) based at the University of Michigan and the African Census Analysis Project based at the University of Pennsylvania (http://www.acap.upenn.edu).

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Chapter 4: Health

The panel relied on multiple sources of data for the health chapter, depending on the topic. Data on mortality and morbidity were taken from WHO and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. DHS surveys were used to analyze data on sexual initiation and on contraceptive use (see Table A-1). While data on sex and contraceptive use among young people have also been collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of their Young Adult Reproductive Health Survey, relatively few developing countries (as defined by the panel) have participated in these surveys and the data are not as easily accessible.6 The global tobacco surveys were used to describe levels and trends in smoking worldwide. For some topics, regional and global averages were not constructed, either because coverage was limited or because data were available for an insufficient number of countries.

Chapter 5: Work

The panel relied on data from labor force surveys provided by the International Labour Organization’s LABORSTAT (http://laborsta.ilo.org/ from November 24, 2003) trends in labor force participation rates, data on population trends from the UN Population Division, and data collected by the Population Council on time use. To analyze trends in transitions to education and to work for seven case study countries, the panel used large public-use samples from the two most recent censuses for Mexico (1990 and 2000), Kenya (1989 and 1999), and Vietnam (1989 and 1999), which are available from the IPUMS-International web site at the University of Minnesota (www.ipums.umn.edu), as well as the 1992 and 1999 surveys of Brazil’s Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios (PNAD); the 1993 South Africa Integrated Household Survey, SALDRU/World Bank and September 2000 South Africa Labour Force Survey, Statistics South Africa, courtesy of David Lam (University of Michigan); the Child Health and Nutrition Survey in China from 1989 and 1997 (http://www.cpc.edu/dataarch/primary), courtesy of Emily Hannum (University of Pennsylvania); and the 1987 Social and Economic Survey of Households, Statistical Center of Iran, and the 1998 Household Expenditure and Income Survey, Statistical Center of Iran, courtesy of Djavad Salehi-Isfahani (Virginia Polytechnic University). These data were also used in Chapter 7.

Other data, typically using countries as examples, were drawn from previously published analyses and used to illustrate various points.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Chapter 6: Citizenship

After an initial exploration of a range of data sets including the World Values Surveys, AfroBarometer surveys, LatinoBarometer surveys, and UNICEF young voices surveys, the panel decided to rely primarily on data from the World Values Surveys collected for the first time in a large sample of developing countries in 1995-1998. This survey project is guided by a steering committee representing all regions of the world. Coordination and distribution of the data are based at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan under the direction of Ronald Inglehart. While this choice meant that we have very little coverage for Africa (except Nigeria, which has about a fifth of the continent’s population), we thought that the sampling procedures for the World Values Surveys were better documented than were alternative sources, such as the Afro- and Latino-Barometer surveys. Because of small sample sizes, however, we thought we needed to allow larger age ranges (18-34, 35+) in order to have a sufficient sample size to explore gender differences. These data were supplemented for some topics by published data from the UNICEF young voices surveys.

More recent versions of the World Values Surveys (1999-2000) and AfroBarometer Surveys (1999-2000) are better documented and include more developing countries; however, neither of these newer data sets were publicly available at the time that this chapter was being completed.

Chapter 7: Marriage

In order to analyze marriage patterns, in particular trends in age at first marriage, it would be desirable to have accurate marriage registration data for at least two points in time. Such data are rarely available for developing countries. The United Nations Population Division collects data on the percentage of the population married in five-year age groups for most developing countries. For the most part, these data are available for men as well as women. For this analysis, we consider all countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, with the exception of those identified by the World Bank as “high income” and those with a population under 140,0007 in population (World Bank, 2002b). Given the focus on trends, we have identified 73 countries of the 117 that meet our criteria for which recent data,8 i.e., data collected in 1990 or later, are available and for which there is information from two censuses or surveys at least 10 years apart (see Table A-3). In 2000, the United Nations estimated that

7  

If a country had fewer than 140,000 in population, the UN did not provide an exact population figure.

8  

There are a total of 152 countries in the three regions: 13 of these have fewer than 140,000 in population, 17 are listed by the World Bank as high income, and 5 have no World Bank income data, leaving 117 that meet our criteria.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

TABLE A-3 United Nations Database on Marriage

Sorted by Region

Sorted by Region Categories

Country

Regiona

Census/Survey Year 1

Census/Survey Year 2

Belize

Carib/CA

1980

1991

Dominican Republic

Carib/CA

1981

1996

El Salvador

Carib/CA

1971

1992

Guatemala

Carib/CA

1973

1990

Haiti

Carib/CA

1989

2000

Mexico

Carib/CA

1980

1990

Nicaragua

Carib/CA

1971

1998

Panama

Carib/CA

1980

1990

Puerto Rico

Carib/CA

1980

1990

Trinidad and Tobago

Carib/CA

1980

1990

Botswana

E/S Africa

1981

1991

Burundi

E/S Africa

1979

1990

Comoros

E/S Africa

1980

1996

Ethiopia

E/S Africa

1984

2000

Kenya

E/S Africa

1969

1998

Malawi

E/S Africa

1987

2000

Mauritius

E/S Africa

1972

1990

Mozambique

E/S Africa

1980

1997

Namibia

E/S Africa

1960

1991

Rwanda

E/S Africa

1978

1996

South Africa

E/S Africa

1985

1996

Tanzania

E/S Africa

1978

1996

Uganda

E/S Africa

1969

1995

Zambia

E/S Africa

1980

1999

Zimbabwe

E/S Africa

1982

1999

China

EA

1987

1999

Bahrain

ME

1981

1991

Egypt

ME

1986

1996

Jordan

ME

1979

1994

Morocco

ME

1982

1994

Occ. Palestinian Territory

ME

1967

1997

Sudan

ME

1983

1993

Tunisia

ME

1984

1994

Turkey

ME

1980

1990

Argentina

SA

1980

1991

Bolivia

SA

1988

1998

Brazil

SA

1980

1996

Chile

SA

1982

1992

Colombia

SA

1973

1993

Ecuador

SA

1974

1990

Guyana

SA

1980

1991

Paraguay

SA

1982

1992

Peru

SA

1981

1996

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Sorted by World Bank Income Categories

U.N. Marriage Data Country

Income

Census/Survey Year 1

Census/Survey Year 2

Azerbaijan

Low

1989

1999

Bangladesh

Low

1981

1991

Benin

Low

1979

1996

Burkina Faso

Low

1985

1999

Burundi

Low

1979

1990

Cambodia

Low

1962

1998

Cameroon

Low

1987

1998

Central African Republic

Low

1975

1994-1995

Chad

Low

1964

1996

Comoros

Low

1980

1996

Côte d’Ivoire

Low

1978

1994

Ethiopia

Low

1984

2000

Gambia

Low

1983

1993

Haiti

Low

1989

2000

India

Low

1981

1992-1993

Indonesia

Low

1980

1990

Kenya

Low

1969

1998

Kyrgyz Republic

Low

1989

1999

Malawi

Low

1987

2000

Mali

Low

1976

1995-1996

Mauritania

Low

1988

2000-2001

Mozambique

Low

1980

1997

Myanmar

Low

1973

1991

Nepal

Low

1981

1991

Nicaragua

Low

1971

1998

Niger

Low

1988

1998

Pakistan

Low

1981

1998

Rwanda

Low

1978

1996

Senegal

Low

1978

1997

Sudan

Low

1983

1993

Tanzania

Low

1978

1996

Uganda

Low

1969

1995

Zambia

Low

1980

1999

Zimbabwe

Low

1982

1999

Belize

Lower Middle

1980

1991

Bolivia

Lower Middle

1988

1998

Cape Verde

Lower Middle

1980

1990

China

Lower Middle

1987

1999

Colombia

Lower Middle

1973

1993

Dominican Republic

Lower Middle

1981

1996

Ecuador

Lower Middle

1974

1990

Egypt

Lower Middle

1986

1996

El Salvador

Lower Middle

1971

1992

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Sorted by Region

Sorted by Region Categories

Country

Regiona

Census/Survey Year 1

Census/Survey Year 2

Uruguay

SA

1985

1996

Venezuela

SA

1974

1990

Bangladesh

SC/SE Asia

1981

1991

Cambodia

SC/SE Asia

1962

1998

India

SC/SE Asia

1981

1992-1993

Indonesia

SC/SE Asia

1980

1990

Iran

SC/SE Asia

1986

1996

Malaysia

SC/SE Asia

1980

1991

Maldives

SC/SE Asia

1985

1995

Myanmar

SC/SE Asia

1973

1991

Nepal

SC/SE Asia

1981

1991

Pakistan

SC/SE Asia

1981

1998

Philippines

SC/SE Asia

1980

1995

Thailand

SC/SE Asia

1980

1990

Azerbaijan

Soviet

1989

1999

Kazakhstan

Soviet

1989

1999

Kyrgyz Republic

Soviet

1989

1999

Benin

W/M Africa

1979

1996

Burkina Faso

W/M Africa

1985

1999

Cameroon

W/M Africa

1987

1998

Cape Verde

W/M Africa

1980

1990

Central African Republic

W/M Africa

1975

1994-1995

Chad

W/M Africa

1964

1996

Côte d’Ivoire

W/M Africa

1978

1994

Gabon

W/M Africa

1961

2000

Gambia

W/M Africa

1983

1993

Mali

W/M Africa

1976

1995-1996

Mauritania

W/M Africa

1988

2000-2001

Niger

W/M Africa

1988

1998

Senegal

W/M Africa

1978

1997

aKey: Carib/CA (Caribbean and Central America); E/S Africa (Eastern and Southern Africa); ME (Middle East [Northern Africa and Western Asia]); SA (South America); SC/SE Asia (South-central and South-eastern Asia); Soviet (Former Soviet Asia); W/M Africa (Western and Middle Africa).

there were 1.4 billion young people ages 10-24 in these 117 countries; 87 percent or 1.2 billion were resident in the 73 countries for which marriage trend data are available. Because of the difficulty of interpreting such large volumes of information, we have aggregated these data by UN geographic groupings.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Sorted by World Bank Income Categories

U.N. Marriage Data Country

Income

Census/Survey Year 1

Census/Survey Year 2

Guatemala

Lower Middle

1973

1990

Guyana

Lower Middle

1980

1991

Iran

Lower Middle

1986

1996

Jordan

Lower Middle

1979

1994

Kazakhstan

Lower Middle

1989

1999

Maldives

Lower Middle

1985

1995

Morocco

Lower Middle

1982

1994

Namibia

Lower Middle

1960

1991

Occ. Palestinian Territory

Lower Middle

1967

1997

Paraguay

Lower Middle

1982

1992

Peru

Lower Middle

1981

1996

Philippines

Lower Middle

1980

1995

Thailand

Lower Middle

1980

1990

Tunisia

Lower Middle

1984

1994

Argentina

Upper Middle

1980

1991

Bahrain

Upper Middle

1981

1991

Botswana

Upper Middle

1981

1991

Brazil

Upper Middle

1980

1996

Chile

Upper Middle

1982

1992

Gabon

Upper Middle

1961

2000

Malaysia

Upper Middle

1980

1991

Mauritius

Upper Middle

1972

1990

Mexico

Upper Middle

1980

1990

Panama

Upper Middle

1980

1990

Puerto Rico

Upper Middle

1980

1990

South Africa

Upper Middle

1985

1996

Trinidad and Tobago

Upper Middle

1980

1990

Turkey

Upper Middle

1980

1990

Uruguay

Upper Middle

1985

1996

Venezuela

Upper Middle

1974

1990

Coverage varies considerably by region, with approximately 90 percent or more of the population represented by these data in Eastern and Southern Africa, South-central and South-eastern Asia, Eastern Asia, South America, and the Caribbean and Central America, but only 63 percent represented in the Middle East, 31 percent represented in Western and

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×

Middle Africa, and 38 percent represented in the former Soviet Asia. Note that Eastern Asia consists entirely of China, as data are unavailable for the two other countries, Mongolia and North Korea. Populous countries for which data are unavailable include Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

The Demographic and Health Surveys provide additional information to what is available from the United Nations data base (see Tables A-1 and A-2). Respondents’ specific age at first marriage is obtained on these surveys, enabling the calculation of the proportion married by a particular age rather than just the percentage of a particular group who are married. In addition, they enable one to examine differentials in the timing of marriage by schooling attainment, place of residence and household economic status and may therefore provide insights into the forces behind the changes we have observed. The one drawback is that the surveys have been conducted in fewer countries than we have UN data for.

Note that regions vary considerably in the number of countries for which DHS surveys have been conducted. Coverage is highest in Eastern and Southern Africa, with approximately 92 percent of the population represented, and lowest in the Caribbean and Central America, where, because no recent survey is available for Mexico—by far the largest country—only about one-fifth of the population is represented. It is also important to keep in mind that no data are available for Eastern Asia, which includes China. Note, however, there are a few countries for which DHS data are available that are not included in the UN database: Armenia, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Nigeria, Togo, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen). Indeed, for two regions, Western/Middle Africa and Former Soviet Asia, coverage is considerably higher in the DHS at 75 percent and 68 percent, respectively. As with the UN data, the regional analyses based on the DHS data are weighted averages.

Chapter 8: Parenthood

All data, for the parenthood chapter, are based on DHS surveys (see earlier discussion of DHS data as well as Tables A-1 and A-2).

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Coverage, Definitions, Methods, and Data." National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11174.
×
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×
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×
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×
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×
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×
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×
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×
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×
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×
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×
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×
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×
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×
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The challenges for young people making the transition to adulthood are greater today than ever before. Globalization, with its power to reach across national boundaries and into the smallest communities, carries with it the transformative power of new markets and new technology. At the same time, globalization brings with it new ideas and lifestyles that can conflict with traditional norms and values. And while the economic benefits are potentially enormous, the actual course of globalization has not been without its critics who charge that, to date, the gains have been very unevenly distributed, generating a new set of problems associated with rising inequality and social polarization. Regardless of how the globalization debate is resolved, it is clear that as broad global forces transform the world in which the next generation will live and work, the choices that today's young people make or others make on their behalf will facilitate or constrain their success as adults. Traditional expectations regarding future employment prospects and life experiences are no longer valid.

Growing Up Global examines how the transition to adulthood is changing in developing countries, and what the implications of these changes might be for those responsible for designing youth policies and programs, in particular, those affecting adolescent reproductive health. The report sets forth a framework that identifies criteria for successful transitions in the context of contemporary global changes for five key adult roles: adult worker, citizen and community participant, spouse, parent, and household manager.

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