DHS surveys are national surveys of households,
and women and men of reproductive age, which are carried out in many developing countries, including most of Africa.
The main aim of these surveys is to provide internationally comparable,
reliable data on fertility and maternal and child health where administrative data is lacking.
Samples are designed to allow analysis at the regional level, and so we use these surveys, where available, to construct regional variables based on the individual responses.
In particular, we calculate regional total fertility rates
(TFR, which is defined as the number of children a woman would have by age 50 if she were subject to the age-specific fertility rate currently observed in the population)
based on fertility histories for the 5 years preceding the survey, regional shares of women who defined themselves as Muslim, and the regional share of women who have no education.
These data are available in all DHS surveys, including for Mauritania in 2003
(Isselmou,2004),
for which the DHS micro data are not in the public domain. Unfortunately, the DHS do not contain income or expenditure data.