IPUMS International: A Data Resource for Statistics Education

IPUMS-International is the world's largest collection of high-precision census data samples containing individual-level information on 544 million people in 74 countries spanning five decades. These data are available for download at no cost to educators, students and researchers for scholarly, educational, and policy-related analysis. The database, built in cooperation with national statistical offices, provides remarkable access to data for educators wishing to expose students to real-world governmental statistics. Variables with distinct census responses for each person are coded consistently across time and place; documentation is thorough, harmonized and easily accessible; and the web delivery system allows registered users to create and download customized data sets pooled across time and place. Individual level responses mean that data can be used in analyses that range from simple descriptive tables to advanced statistical modeling. IPUMS-INTERNATIONAL: HARMONIZED MICRODATA AND METADATA The Integrated Public Use Microdata Series-International (IPUMS International) is a data infrastructure project which disseminates high-precision census microdata samples to teachers and researchers world-wide, free of cost, and on-line at https://international.ipums.org. In partnership with more than 100 national statistical agencies, as well as data archives, research centers, and international organizations, we have assembled the most comprehensive collection of census microdata in the world (Figure 1). The microdata records describe a billion persons nested within families and households, with information about the inter-relationships of all members of each residential group. For every person, the data include detailed information about geographic location, demographic characteristics, and economic activities. The data also cover education and literacy, migration and place of former residence, marital status and consensual unions, disabilities, characteristics of the building, and a host of other characteristics. Researchers can analyze multiple census years and multiple countries as a single pooled dataset. Figure 1. Census data distributed by IPUMS-International, with Country Area Weighted by that Country's Proportion of the World's Population in 2014. (Data Sources: Original data contributed by national statistical offices are harmonized and distributed by the IPUMS-International census project.) Census microdata collected by countries around the globe contain a wealth of information useful to teachers and researchers (McCaa & Ruggles, 2002). Although large census microdata samples exist for many countries, access has been limited and the documentation has often been inadequate. Where microdata are available, comparisons across countries or time are difficult because of inconsistencies in data and documentation. IPUMS-International addresses these issues