Sample characteristics: South Africa

Census characteristics

1996

2001

Title

Population Census, 1996

Census 2001

Census agency

Statistics South Africa

Population
universe

Every person present in South Africa on Census Night,
October 9-10, 1996, should have been enumerated.

The people who were present in the country on the
night of 9–10 October 2001. People living in households across the
country, as well as those in hostels, hotels, hospitals and all
other types of communal living quarters, and even the homeless, were
all visited.

De jure or de
facto

De facto

De facto

Enumeration unit

Visiting points within Enumeration Areas (EAs)

Households and Individuals within Enumeration Areas
(EAs- usually contain 100 to 250 households).

Census day

October 10, 1996

October 10, 2001

Field work period

October 10 to October 30, 1996 although, in some
situations, it was necessary to continue enumeration through to
December to ensure that as many people as possible were included.

—

Enumeration forms

There were five different questionnaires that were
used: 1) A household questionnaire which was completed in each
household in the country. This questionnaire included information on
each individual in the household, for example age and gender, as
well as on the household as a whole, for example access to
electricity and tap water. 2) An individual questionnaire, which was
completed by individuals living on their own, for example those
living in hostels or compounds. 3) A summary questionnaire for
hostels. 4) A questionnaire for institutions, for example prisons,
tourist hotels or homes for the aged. 5) A questionnaire for the
homeless.

Three different census questionnaires were developed
– one for households (the A questionnaire), one for individuals in
institutions (the B questionnaire), and one for the institutions
themselves (the C questionnaire). The A questionnaire was also used
in workers' hostels, student hostels, residential hotels and homes
for the independent aged, whilst the B and C questionnaires were
also used in tourist hotels and for the homeless.

Type of field
work

Respondents were given the choice of being
interviewed or of completing the questionnaire themselves. The vast
majority of people chose to be interviewed.

A general
enumerator was a temporary Stats SA staff member appointed to
collect information about people who were living in households in
private accommodation, for example, a house, a flat in a block of
flats, a shack or a traditional dwelling, on census night.

A
special enumerator was appointed to enumerate people in special
dwellings (institutions) such as hostels, prisons, hotels and
hospitals. Special enumerators also collected information on the
homeless or those living on the streets without shelter or in the
open.

Each enumerator was required to produce one or more
completed questionnaires for each dwelling visited. Households were
encouraged to be interviewed by the enumerator if possible.
Alternatively, a respondent could complete the questionnaire for
collection later, where circumstances allowed. Enumerators carried
translations of the questions into the other ten official languages,
to refer to where necessary.

Undercount

10.7%

Varies by province: 14.07% to 22.51% for individuals;
15.55% to 26.21% for households.

Microdata sample characteristics

1996

2001

Microdata source

Statistics South Africa

Statistics South Africa

Sample design

The household was basically drawn as a 10% systematic
sample of households from the census household file, stratified as
specified below. The 10% person level sample was obtained by
including all persons in these households plus the persons drawn in
independent 10% systematic samples of all persons in special
institutions and hostels.

NOTE: 19 districts in the Eastern
Cape province are not organized into households, because of an error
in the original data file. 1.3% of the sample is affected.

Systematic stratified sample drawn by Statistics
South Africa.

Sample unit

Households and individuals

Households

Sample fraction

10%

10%

Sample size (person
records)

3,621,164

3,725,655

Sample weights

Computed by census agency and should be used for most
types of analysis. The weight variable is the adjustment factor for
undercount (for households or persons as appropriate) multiplied by
10 to inflate the 10% sample to the population.

Computed by census agency and should be used for most
types of analysis.

Units identified

1996

2001

Dwellings

No

No

Vacant units

No

No

Households

Yes

Yes

Individuals

Yes

Yes

Group quarters

Yes

Yes

Unit definitions

1996

2001

Dwellings

An occupied dwelling was a premises (visiting point
or physical address) that was inhabited by one or more households on
census night. An occupied dwelling may have been a house, room, flat
or apartment, shack, hut, tent, caravan, houseboat, shop, school,
etc.

Any structure intended or used for human
habitation.

Private
Households

A household consists of a person, or a group of
persons, who occupy a common dwelling (or part of it) for at least
four days a week and who provide themselves jointly with food and
other essentials for living. In other words, they live together as a
unit. People who occupy the same dwelling, but who do not share food
or other essentials, were enumerated as separate households. For
example, people who shared a dwelling, but who bought food and ate
separately, were counted as separate households.

A group of persons who live together, and provide
themselves jointly with food and/or other essentials for living, or
a single person who lives alone. (The 'four-night-a-week' criterion
for household membership does not apply, as this was a de facto
census, that is, people were counted where they were staying on
census night.)

Group Quarters

A special dwelling is one which is not privately
occupied by a household. It is usually an institution such as a
prison, hotel, hostel, home for the aged, etc. Also hostels: a
collective form of accommodation specifically built during the
apartheid era for mine, factory, power station, municipal or other
employees.

Living quarters where certain facilities are shared
by groups of individuals or households. They include hostels, hotels
and institutions.

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