UN Joint Age Sex Score
Compute the UN Manual IV joint score for age-sex data quality: three times the sum of absolute successive sex-ratio deviations plus the summed male and female age-ratio deviations, classifying below 20 as accurate, 20 to 40 as inaccurate and above 40 as highly inaccurate.
Description
Compute the UN Manual IV joint score for age-sex data quality: three times the sum of absolute successive sex-ratio deviations plus the summed male and female age-ratio deviations, classifying below 20 as accurate, 20 to 40 as inaccurate and above 40 as highly inaccurate.
Compute the UN Manual IV joint score for age-sex data quality: three times the sum of absolute successive sex-ratio deviations plus the summed male and female age-ratio deviations, classifying below 20 as accurate, 20 to 40 as inaccurate and above 40 as highly inaccurate.1
When to use UN Joint Age Sex Score
Use this diagnostic to identify suspicious digit preference or age-sex patterns before fitting rates, life tables, or population projections.
- Males
- Male population by five-year age group.
- Females
- Female population by five-year age group, same order as males.
How the method works
- Sex ratio score
- Three times the sum of absolute successive sex-ratio differences.
- Male age ratio score
- Sum of absolute male age-ratio deviations from 100.
- Female age ratio score
- Sum of absolute female age-ratio deviations from 100.
- Joint score
- Total UN joint score.
- Accuracy
- UN accuracy classification of the reported schedule.
Limitations and assumptions
These indices are screening diagnostics, not corrections. Their thresholds depend on the stated age window and can also respond to real cohort variation, migration, conflict, or selective undercoverage.
Alternative or Complementary measures
Inspect the underlying age distribution and compare more than one diagnostic, such as Whipple, Myers, or the UN joint score. A graphical population pyramid can reveal cohort patterns that a single index compresses.
References
-
Age heaping — Wikipedia contributors
Similar or alternative tools
- Bachi Age-Sex Accuracy Index Calculator
Compute Bachi's age-sex accuracy index, the sum over both sexes of half the total absolute deviation of terminal-digit shares from ten percent across complete decades of single ages.
- Myers Blended Sex Ratio Index Calculator
Compute Myers' blended index of sex ratios, the sum over terminal digits 0-9 of absolute deviations of blended sex ratios from 100, using overlapping age windows to remove digit-weighting bias.
- Terminal Digit Preference Share
Measure age-heaping on one terminal digit: the percentage of reported ages ending in the chosen digit relative to a uniform ten percent share across digits.