IPUMS International is a database of census data from 82 countries, including 277 censuses covering 614 million person records. IPUMS International is composed of microdata, meaning it provides information about individual persons and households. The data are coded and documented consistently across countries and over time to enable comparative research using the microdata. IPUMS enables users to construct a variety of tabulations interrelating any set of variables, tailored to user's specific research questions.
The data series includes information on a variety of population characteristics, such as: fertility, nuptiality, life-course transitions, migration, labor-force participation, occupational structure, education, ethnicity, and household composition. The information available in each sample varies according to the questions asked in that year. The database currently covers 277 censuses taken from 1960 to the present.
The IPUMS International project is a collaboration of the Minnesota Population Center, National Statistical Offices, and international data archives. IPUMS identifies and preserves machine-readable data and additionally secures agreements from participating national statistical agencies to disseminate their data for scholarly research. IPUMS International creates an inventory of all data as well as important documentation such as: enumerator instruction, census forms, codebooks, studies of data quality, and other ancillary documentation when available.