Myer's Index: Measuring Age Heaping

Age heaping refers to the tendency for individuals to report their ages rounded to specific digits, often 0 or 5. This phenomenon distorts population age structures.

Myer's index is specifically designed to measure this age heaping. It works by comparing the observed (reported) proportions of the population at ages ending in each terminal digit (0, 1, 2, ..., 9) against the expected proportions. The index calculates a score based on the deviation between these reported and expected proportions across all digits, indicating the extent of preference for ages ending in certain digits.

Why Myer's Index is Correct: The question asks for an index that compares "expected proportions... with each terminal digit" and "reported proportions... with these terminal digits". Myer's index directly addresses this by analyzing the distribution of reported ages across all terminal digits (0 through 9) relative to what would be expected in the absence of age preference.

Other Indices and Why They Differ

• Whipple's Index: While also measuring age heaping, Whipple's index primarily focuses on ages ending in 0 or 5 within a specific age range (e.g., 23-62). It compares the number reporting ages ending in 0 or 5 to the total population in that range, making it less comprehensive than Myer's index for analyzing all terminal digits.
• Age-sex accuracy index: This index evaluates the overall quality of demographic data, considering both age and sex distributions and their consistency. It doesn't specifically focus on the comparison of terminal digits for age heaping.
• Index of age preference: This is a general term. While Myer's and Whipple's indices quantify specific types of age preference (heaping), this option is not a specific, defined index matching the question's methodology.

Therefore, Myer's index is the correct measure described in the question.