Statistical analysis of the 2006 census age distributions of Adamawa and Anambra states, Nigeria

A census of a population contributes immensely to the development of social amenities of a country. Censuses in developing countries are prone to errors of age misreporting due to ignorance, low literacy levels and other social, economic and cultural factors. Ages are commonly rounded with great affinity for 0 and 5. In view of this tendency to digital preference and / or avoidance results in age heaping or concentration of ages at certain digits, the study examined the extent of digit preference in the Nigerian census data of 2006 in two states and the best method of data smoothing. Whipple’s and Myers’ indices were used to determine the extent of digit preference. The results showed that the qualities of age data in the two states are very rough as a result of age misreporting.

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