Integrated International Microdata for Population Dynamics and Health Research

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Project Summary/Abstract IPUMS is a key component of the world’s population health data infrastructure, and it is urgently needed. The extraordinary growth and redistribution of the human population is reshaping the planet with profound consequences for population health and health behaviors. Unless we understand the processes of change, we cannot hope to plan adequately. To meet the challenges created by rapid demographic, economic, and environmental change, researchers must have open access to the best possible information. Over the past two decades, IPUMS has created a vast archive of census and survey microdata covering 100 countries over multiple decades. There has been explosive growth in the number of researchers using the database, the amount of data they request, and the number of high-impact publications they produce. The massive growth of the database has created new challenges, however, for data discovery, processing, and management that will require creative new technical solutions. There is also high demand to further expand, improve, and support the database. The proposed continuation project will expand the database, enhance the data and metadata, improve key elements of the infrastructure, and support the research community. Aims 1 and 2 focus on acquiring, preserving, and processing microdata from Asia and Europe. Aims 3 and 4 will provide infrastructure and outreach that will benefit all IPUMS microdata efforts. Aim 1: Data acquisition and long-run preservation. The IPUMS International team will obtain and preserve census and survey microdata from Asia and Europe, including the newest microdata from household surveys and older data at risk of destruction. Aim 2: Data processing. The project will expand the IPUMS database by adding data for at least 120 million individuals included in at least 60 censuses and surveys, focusing on recent data from Asia and Europe. This will require data cleaning, development of comprehensive machine-processable metadata, spatial data ingest and harmonization, and variable harmonization. Aim 3: Data, metadata, and infrastructural improvements. This project includes dozens of improvements to IPUMS data and metadata while adding new capabilities to IPUMS data processing and dissemination systems. Aim 4: Dissemination and outreach. The project will continue to provide user support, training, and outreach and will develop new online training capabilities as well as promoting scientific discovery through surveys, workshops, and online interaction. Most critically, IPUMS will maintain collaborations with the national statistical agencies who provide the source data. The improved and expanded IPUMS database will allow investigators to make comparisons across the world over multiple decades of social and economic upheaval, creating a resource of unprecedented power for understanding ongoing transformations of demographic behavior and population health.