Occurrence Data Rate Calculations with Small Numbers Residence Data Table Variables The following link shows a listing of table variables and associated characteristics when generating a table. Animated Formulas The following link shows the formulas used to calculate rates with examples. Occurrence Data - Data allocated to the place in South Carolina where the event occurred, regardless of the usual residence of the person involved. Rate Calculations with Small Numbers - There are variations in all statistics which are the result of chance. This characteristic is of particular importance in classifications with small numbers of events where small variations are proportionately large in relation to the base figure. As an example, small changes in the number of deaths in small population areas or in the number of deaths from uncommon causes could result in large changes in these crude rates. For this reason, rates for counties with small populations or other small bases should be used cautiously. In these tables, rates are not calculated for places of less than 2500 population or when the number of events is less than 5 for a particular category, due to the known instability of rates based on small numbers. Residence Data - Data allocated to the place in South Carolina where the person normally resided, regardless of where the event occurred. Population Data: Population Data for years 1990-2000 are provided by South Carolina Office of Research and Statistics Return to top