LIFE-M: The Longitudinal, Intergenerational Family Electronic Micro-Database

Combines  U.S. vital records (birth, marriage, death certificates) with census information into longitudinal and intergenerational micro-data.  Using cutting-edge, machine learning techniques, the resulting dataset consists of 4 generations and millions of high-quality links for 20th century Americans. For more details about the project, check out the website (https://life-m.org/).  Additionally, these data can be linked to the LIFE-M Ohio Causes of Death Project (https://doi.org/10.3886/E149841). 

Geographic Coverage:   North Carolina, United States, Ohio

Time Period(s):   1820 – 1975 (Born in the 19th and 20th century); 1900 – 2012 (Died in the 20th and early 21st century)

Data Type(s):   administrative records data; census/enumeration data; other

Sampling:  The core sample of birth records are from people born in Ohio and North Carolina between 1900 and 1929. See https://life-m.org/ for more information about how records are linked.  

Data Source:  Birth, marriage, and death records from Ohio and North Carolina. 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1940 Census data.

Weights:  Please see Bailey, Cole and Massey (2019) for a step-by-step process to create weights for specific subsamples and purposes, which help adjust the samples for under- or over-representation of certain subgroups or characteristics.

Unit of Observation:    individual