World Widows Report 2016
The Loomba Foundation
Appendix 2 Notes

Notes

	1.	Burundi census 2008 percentage for widows: UN database data gives 8.1 percent for widows as a percentage of the female marital age population, but Burundi Census gives two figures: 15.3 percent of female marital age population in all provinces, and 8.1 percent of females by age group and marital status. In addition it states the overall widowhood rate as 15.3 percent, and an Appendix states this is the percentage for widows across all provinces. The reason for these differences is not clear. Source: Recensement Général de la Population et de l’Habitat du Burundi 2008 Vol. 3: Analyse Tome 4.
	2.	Gulf Arab countries: Most Arab countries in the Persian Gulf have large expatriate populations, some more than half the size of the indigenous population. The lack of detailed census data makes it difficult to produce an accurate widows count. There are further diffuclties extrapolating indigenous population data when detailed data is available, so the present Reoprt has taken the actual census or survey data for the most recent year for each country – or a more recent year for which data could be accessed. Arab countries in the Middle East that have not been at war have remarkable consistent rates of widows as a percentage of the total female marital age population ranging from six to just under seven percent. The 2010 Study produced estimates at around four percent for widows, which were not accurate due to this mix of expatriate and local populations. The need is to measure widows from the local population so as to understand marriage practices and trends of the local population – including expatriates in such large numbers obscures the true picture. In the present Report, only indigenous and no expat data has been used for Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE. The data for Oman and Saudi Arabia is believed to be for indigenous population only but this is not confirmed.
	3.	Conflict countries: In Syria, Iraq, Lybia, Yemen, South Sudan and Central African Republic the increase in the number and proportion of widows arising from the civil wars in these countries cannot yet be estimated with any degree of confidence. In Iraq, the widows percentage in the 1997 Iraq census produces a 2015 estimate of just over one million widows, but other estimates, now several years old, place the highest estimate at over eight million widows. All these conflict countries are still at the acute, full fighting stage of conflict.