dhs: Read and recode Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)...
In childfree: Access and Harmonize Childfree Demographic Data
dhs R Documentation
Read and recode Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) individual data
Description
Read and recode Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) individual data
Usage
dhs(files, extra.vars = NULL, progress = TRUE)
Arguments
files
vector: a character vector containing the paths for one or more Individual Recode DHS data files (see details)
extra.vars
vector: a character vector containing the names of variables to be retained from the raw data
progress
boolean: display a progress bar
Details
The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program regularly collects
health data from population-representative samples in many countries using standardized surveys since 1984. The
"individual recode" data files contain women's responses, while the "men recode" files contain men's responses. These
files are available in SPSS, SAS, and Stata formats from https://www.dhsprogram.com/,
however access requires a free application. The dhs() function
reads one or more of these files, extracts and recodes selected variables useful for studying childfree adults and other
family statuses, then returns an unweighted data frame.
Although access to DHS data requires an application, the DHS program provides a model dataset
for practice. The example provided below uses the model data file "ZZIR62FL.SAV", which contains fictitious women's data,
but has the same structure as a real DHS data file. The example can be run without prior application for data access.
Sampling weights
The DHS is collected using a complex survey design. The survey package can be used to perform analyses that take these
design features into account, and make it possible to obtain population-representative estimates. In most cases, a svydesign
object for a single country and wave can be created using survey::svydesign(data = data, ids = ~cluster, strata = ~strata, weights = ~weight, nest = TRUE).
Additional information about analyzing DHS data using weights is available here
and in the documentation provided with the downloaded data files.
Non-biological children
Information about non-biological children (e.g., adopted children, foster children, etc.) is not available in the DHS, which means
that a respondent with only non-biological children would be classified as a non-parent. This is not exactly match the approach
described by the ABC Framework (Neal & Neal, 2024), and may lead to discrepancies when comparing DHS estimates to estimates derived
from other data where information about non-biological children is available.
Additional notes
The SPSS-formatted files containing data from Gabon Recode 4 (GAIR41FL.SAV, GAMR41FL.SAV) and Turkey Recode 4 (TRIR41FL.SAV, TRMR41FL.SAV)
contain encoding errors. Use the SAS-formatted files (GAIR41FL.SAS7BDAT, GAMR41FL.SAS7BDAT, TRIR41FL.SAS7BDAT, TRMR41FL.SAS7BDAT) instead.
In some cases, DHS makes available individual recode data files for specific regions. For example, women's data from individual states
in India from 1999 are contained in files named XXIR42FL.SAV, where the "XX" is a two-letter state code. The dhs() function has only
been tested using whole-country files, and may not perform as expected for regional files.
Variables containing women's responses in the individual recode files begin with v, while variables containing men's responses in the
men recode files begin with mv. When applying dhs() to both female and male data, these are automatically harmonized. However, if
extra variables are requested using the extra.vars option, be sure to specify both names (e.g. extra.vars = c("v201", "mv201")).
Value
A data frame containing variables described in the codebook available using vignette("codebooks")
If you are offline, or if the requested data are otherwise unavailable, NULL is returned.
References
ABC Framework: Neal, Z. P. and Neal, J. W. (2024). A framework for studying adults who neither have nor want children. The Family Journal, 32, 121-130. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.1177/10664807231198869")}
Examples
dat <- dhs(files = c("ZZIR62FL.SAV"), extra.vars = c("v201")) #Request data for fictitous country
if (!is.null(dat)) { #If data was available...
table(dat$famstat)/nrow(dat) #Fraction of respondents with each family status
}
childfree documentation built on April 3, 2025, 6:15 p.m.
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| dhs | R Documentation |
Read and recode Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) individual data
Description
Read and recode Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) individual data
Usage
dhs(files, extra.vars = NULL, progress = TRUE)
Arguments
files |
vector: a character vector containing the paths for one or more Individual Recode DHS data files (see details) |
extra.vars |
vector: a character vector containing the names of variables to be retained from the raw data |
progress |
boolean: display a progress bar |
Details
The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program regularly collects
health data from population-representative samples in many countries using standardized surveys since 1984. The
"individual recode" data files contain women's responses, while the "men recode" files contain men's responses. These
files are available in SPSS, SAS, and Stata formats from https://www.dhsprogram.com/,
however access requires a free application. The dhs() function
reads one or more of these files, extracts and recodes selected variables useful for studying childfree adults and other
family statuses, then returns an unweighted data frame.
Although access to DHS data requires an application, the DHS program provides a model dataset for practice. The example provided below uses the model data file "ZZIR62FL.SAV", which contains fictitious women's data, but has the same structure as a real DHS data file. The example can be run without prior application for data access.
Sampling weights
The DHS is collected using a complex survey design. The survey package can be used to perform analyses that take these
design features into account, and make it possible to obtain population-representative estimates. In most cases, a svydesign
object for a single country and wave can be created using survey::svydesign(data = data, ids = ~cluster, strata = ~strata, weights = ~weight, nest = TRUE).
Additional information about analyzing DHS data using weights is available here
and in the documentation provided with the downloaded data files.
Non-biological children
Information about non-biological children (e.g., adopted children, foster children, etc.) is not available in the DHS, which means that a respondent with only non-biological children would be classified as a non-parent. This is not exactly match the approach described by the ABC Framework (Neal & Neal, 2024), and may lead to discrepancies when comparing DHS estimates to estimates derived from other data where information about non-biological children is available.
Additional notes
The SPSS-formatted files containing data from Gabon Recode 4 (GAIR41FL.SAV, GAMR41FL.SAV) and Turkey Recode 4 (TRIR41FL.SAV, TRMR41FL.SAV) contain encoding errors. Use the SAS-formatted files (GAIR41FL.SAS7BDAT, GAMR41FL.SAS7BDAT, TRIR41FL.SAS7BDAT, TRMR41FL.SAS7BDAT) instead.
In some cases, DHS makes available individual recode data files for specific regions. For example, women's data from individual states in India from 1999 are contained in files named XXIR42FL.SAV, where the "XX" is a two-letter state code. The
dhs()function has only been tested using whole-country files, and may not perform as expected for regional files.Variables containing women's responses in the individual recode files begin with
v, while variables containing men's responses in the men recode files begin withmv. When applyingdhs()to both female and male data, these are automatically harmonized. However, if extra variables are requested using theextra.varsoption, be sure to specify both names (e.g.extra.vars = c("v201", "mv201")).
Value
A data frame containing variables described in the codebook available using vignette("codebooks")
If you are offline, or if the requested data are otherwise unavailable, NULL is returned.
References
ABC Framework: Neal, Z. P. and Neal, J. W. (2024). A framework for studying adults who neither have nor want children. The Family Journal, 32, 121-130. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.1177/10664807231198869")}
Examples
dat <- dhs(files = c("ZZIR62FL.SAV"), extra.vars = c("v201")) #Request data for fictitous country
if (!is.null(dat)) { #If data was available...
table(dat$famstat)/nrow(dat) #Fraction of respondents with each family status
}
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