Integrating Census Microdata on Latin America: the IPUMS-Latin American Project

Abstract

Thanks to the pioneering efforts of Dr. Gustavo Cabrera and other leading demographers, Latin America contains a vast archive of census microdata, the majority of which, however, are inaccessible to researchers.

Throughout his academic and scientific career, Professor Cabrera was constantly concerned with information sources. The Integrated Public Use of Microdata Series for Latin America (IPUMS-AL) has embarked on the difficult task of integrating the census microdata from this region by making intensive and extensive use of new technologies, but above all, by infusing them with the determination with which Latin American institutions and eminent demographers have sought to improve the quality and ensure the preservation of these data, which undoubtedly constitute one of Latin America’s statistical treasures.

The IPUMS-Latin American project has the financial basis required to incorporate these microdata into a single data base that will be used for academic research and be accessible via the Internet. The census microdata of 1960, 1970, 1990 and 2000 on Mexico have already been integrated  (www.ipums.org/international) as a result of the collective work undertaken by INEGI, a founding member of the project, leading Mexican demographers, and the University of Minnesota Population Center.