SUMMARY

The 1982 Population Census of China was conducted by the State Statistics Bureau of China and archived by Chinese Population Information and Research Center. It is the third of its kind, following the two conducted in 1953 and 1964. Compared with the previous two, the third census featured a significantly larger population (approximately one billion), a larger number of census variables (nineteen in all), and the application of computers for the first time in data processing.

The process of conducting 1982 census involved three stages: (1) the preparation stage, which took two and a half years from January 1980 to June 1982; (2) the enumeration stage, which lasted 20 days from July 1 to 20, 1982; and (3) the data processing stage, which lasted about 29 months from July 21, 1982 to the end of 1984, resulting in a time frame of five years for the entire census process. With zero hour July 1, 1982 as the reference time, face to face interviews were conducted among the overall population of the 29 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Servicemen in the Chinese Liberation Army in mainland China were also included, with the exception of a small number of the population (28,601) in the Tibet Autonomous Region where transportation is extremely difficult; figures were estimated according to administrative records.

A postenumeration sample check of the 1982 census showed the following results:

• overcount rate 0.71 per thousand,
• undercount rate 0.56 per thousand,
• gross error rate 1.27 per thousand,
• net error rate 0.15 per thousand,
• net error rate in sex 0.03 per thousand, and
• net error rate in age 6.15 per thousand.

The dataset contains a record for each household and includes variables describing the location, type, and composition of the households. Each household record is followed by a record for each individual residing in the household. Variables relating to individuals include demographic characteristics, occupation, industry, literacy, ethnicity, marital status, and fertility.

DATA ACCESS
The Ulysses service is no longer available, and the China Population Census Data, Household, 1% Sample, 1982 data is no longer accessible.

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