Nationally representative, multi-topic survey of 42,152 households in 1,503 villages and 971 urban neighborhoods across India. Data were originally collected from households during 2004-2005. Interviewers returned in 2011-2012 to re-interview these same households. During both waves of data collection, two one-hour interviews were conducted covering a large range of topics. The goal of the IHDS program is to document changes in the daily lives of Indian households in a society undergoing rapid transition.
This particular data collection merges the two waves of IHDS (known as IHDS and IHDS-II) into a harmonized pattern from the perspective view points of individuals, households, and eligible women. The data are presented in three different data formats: cross-sectional, wide, and long to facilitate a broader range of analysis options. Due to the specificity of geography and inclusion of sensitive / identifying topics there is a public-use and restricted-use rendition for each of the 9 data files.
