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South Africa Demographic and Health Survey 1987

South Africa, 1987
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Reference ID
zaf-hsrc-dhs-1987-v1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.25828/090x-7e53
Producer(s)
Human Sciences Research Council
Collections
DHS Program
Metadata
DDI/XML JSON
Created on
Aug 27, 2014
Last modified
Aug 24, 2026
Page views
142754
Downloads
1453
  • Identification
  • Version
  • Scope
  • Coverage
  • Producers and sponsors
  • Sampling
  • survey_instrument
  • Data Collection
  • Data Access
  • Contacts
  • Metadata production
  • citation

    • Identification

    Survey ID number

    zaf-hsrc-dhs-1987-v1
    Title

    South Africa Demographic and Health Survey 1987
    Abbreviation or Acronym

    SADHS 1987
    Country
    Name Country code
    South Africa zaf
    Study type

    Demographic and Health Survey
    Series Information

    The South Africa Demographic and Health Survey series comprises nationally representative household surveys that collect demographic and health indicators for South Africa. The 1987 round was implemented by the Human Sciences Research Council. The 1998 survey was implemented by the Department of Health with the Medical Research Council and technical assistance from Macro International. The 2016 survey was implemented by Statistics South Africa with the South African Medical Research Council and technical assistance from ICF through The DHS Program. A 2003 survey was also conducted, but its data is not publicly available. Together, the documented rounds provide indicators on fertility, infant and childhood mortality, family planning, maternal and child health, adult health, and related topics.
    Abstract

    The Demographic and Health Survey is mainly concerned with the determination of fertility, infant mortality rates and closely related issues. Questions surrounding respondent’s background, reproduction, contraception, health and breastfeeding, marriage, fertility preferences, and husband’s background and woman’s work were asked. This study consists of two datasets, one household dataset and the other an individual dataset, the respondent being a female of reproductive age that has already given birth or who is married or exposed to pregnancy. Females qualifying for the individual interview schedule were chosen from the responses to household (cover) questionnaire.
    Kind of Data

    Sample survey data
    Unit of Analysis

    Households and individuals

    Version

    Version Description

    Version 1: Edited, anonymised dataset for public distribution
    Version Date

    2014
    Version Notes

    Users should note that quality concerns have been identified in relation to the 1987 South African DHS, including political interference, coverage gaps, and broader structural constraints associated with the apartheid context. Nonetheless, subsequent research demonstrates that despite these limitations, the dataset remains reasonably clean and provides the most reliable evidence available on levels, trends, and determinants of health service use in South Africa during the late apartheid period (Phillips, 1999: Demographic Survey Data in South Africa: An Evaluation of Methodology and Quality).

    Scope

    Notes

    The DHS collected data from women respondents on their place of residence, age, education level, religion and language, type of dwelling, reproduction, maternal health and breastfeeding, contraception, marriage, fertility, women's employment and husband's background

    Coverage

    Geographic Coverage

    The survey had national coverage
    Geographic Unit

    The lowest geographical unit is Magisterial District
    Universe

    The universe of the survey was female housheold members aged 12 to 49, who had given birth or were pregnant, or had been/were married or in a "steady" relationship.

    Producers and sponsors

    Primary investigators
    Name
    Human Sciences Research Council

    Sampling

    Sampling Procedure

    Random samples of clusters of households, were selected, representative of the main lifestyles in every participating region.
    Weighting

    There is no weighting in the data.

    survey_instrument

    Questionnaires

    The DHS collected data with a structured interview schedule/questionnaire. This survey used a household cover questionnaire and an individual interview schedule for eligible women.

    Data Collection

    Dates of Data Collection
    Start End
    1987 1987
    Mode of data collection
    • Face-to-face
    Data Collectors
    Name Abbreviation
    Human Sciences Research Council HSRC

    Data Access

    Access authority
    Name Affiliation URL Email
    South African Data Archive http://www.nrf.ac.za/sada
    DataFirst Helpdesk University of Cape Town https://support.data1st.org/ support@data1st.org
    Access conditions

    Public access data for use under a Creative Commons CC-BY (Attribution-only) License
    Citation requirements

    Human Sciences Research Council [HSRC], Demographic and Health Survey 1987, South Africa [dataset]. Version 1. Pretoria: HSRC [producer],1987. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/090x-7e53

    Contacts

    Contacts
    Name Email URL
    DataFirst Helpdesk support@data1st.org http://www.support.data1st.org/helpdesk

    Metadata production

    Producers
    Name Affiliation Role
    DataFirst University of Cape Town Metadata producer

    Metadata version

    DDI Document version

    Version 7
    Version date

    2026-08-24

    citation

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