Demographic

CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONDENTS 3Henry Ginindza and Petronella MambaThis chapter provides a profile of the respondents who were interviewed in the 2006-07Swaziland DHS, including youth age 12-14, men and women age 15-49, and older adults age 50 andolder. First, information is presented on a number of basic characteristics including age at the time of thesurvey, religion, marital status, residence, education, literacy, and media access. Then, the chapterexplores adults’ employment status, occupation, and earnings. An analysis of these variables provides thesocioeconomic context within which demographic and reproductive health issues are examined in thesubsequent chapters.3.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF SURVEY RESPONDENTSTable 3.1.1 presents the distribution of women and men age 15-49 by age, religion, marital status,urban-rural residence, region, education level, and wealth quintile. For both sexes, the proportion in eachage group tends to decrease with increasing age. A high proportion of the respondents are young adultsage 15-24 (47 percent of women and 53 percent of men). The majority of respondents are Zionists (37percent each of women and men). One in four women and 18 percent of men are Protestants. A largeproportion of men reported no religion.Half of women have never been married, compared with 66 percent of men. Thirty-two percent ofwomen and 23 percent of men are currently married. Ten percent of women and 6 percent of men areliving together with their partners, 3 percent of women and 4 percent of men are divorced or separated,and 6 percent of women and 1 percent of men are widowed. Women and men are distributed almostequally by urban-rural residence and across regions.Women are as likely as men to have no education. However, men are slightly more likely thanwomen to have reached higher education levels. For instance, 21 percent of men have attended highschool compared with 18 percent of women. Overall, slightly over 50 percent of the population haveattained secondary education and above.Table 3.1.2 shows the background characteristics of the 465 girls and 409 boys age 12-14interviewed in the survey. The boys and girls are almost evenly distributed by age. About 88 percent ofthese boys and girls live in rural areas. Between 24-29 percent of boys and girls live in the Hhohho,Manzini, or Shiselweni regions, and only 20-21 percent live in the Lubombo region.The distribution of the respondents by education is skewed, because of the small numbers of boysand girls age 12-14 who have no education and who have secondary or higher education. While girls age12-14 are less likely than boys to be in lower primary school (28 percent of girls compared with 43percent of boys), they are more likely than boys of the same age to attend higher primary school (61percent of girls compared with 50 percent of boys).Table 3.1.3 shows the distribution of women and men age 50 and older who were interviewed inthe survey. It is interesting to note that 59 percent of women and 56 percent of men are 60 years or older.As in the case of younger populations, 87 percent of women and 82 percent of men live in the rural areas.Also, three in ten each of women and men are in Manzini, between 22-29 percent of women and men arein Hhohho and Shiselweni, and 19 percent or less are in Lubombo. Education among older adults islimited; 41 percent of women and 38 percent of men in this age group have had no education.Characteristics of Respondents | 27