Did the study inflate death estimates by sampling predominantly urban areas?
The Lancet article contains the following explanation of how clusters were selected: At the second stage of sampling, the Governorates constituent administrative units were listed by population or estimated population, and location(s) were selected randomly proportionate to population size. This has been taken by some commentators to mean that only urban areas were included in the sample. However, this concern appears to be unfounded. Gilliam Burnham, the lead author, has explained that 28 percent of the clusters (and thus households) in the sample were in rural areas. This corresponds closely to estimates of the proportion of the total population that live in rural areas. For example, the 2004 UNDP Iraq Living Conditions Survey, found that 7.1 million, or 26 percent, of Iraq’s total population of 27.1 million live in rural areas [pdf link]. The fact that the proportion of the population and the proportion of clusters in rural areas is similar is an ilustration of how random sampling w
