The main objective of this article is to apply two methodologies for reconstructing birth histories - one developed by Cedeplar and another by Luther and Cho (1988) - based on 2000 Brazilian census data. The methodologies are compared and the results tested in order to verify the reliability of the findings and the practicality of each method. With this, the intention is to determine which methodology is best for Brazilian data, so that the available information can be fully explored. Most of the data are from the 2000 demographic census, but some are from Carvalho (1974, 1978), Carvalho and Pinheiro (1986), PRONEX/The Cedeplar Report (Cedeplar, 1999).
Birth histories; Fertility; 2000 Brazilian Demographic Census