Cohort Size Shrinkage Index
Huang et al. (2010a; 2010b) originally proposed the cohort size shrinkage index (CSSI) as a measure of severity of China's 1959-1961 Great Leap Forward famine. I used the same measure in my research. I calculated CSSI for rural and urban subpopulations separately at the prefecture level from the 1% sample of China's 1990 Population Census, which is available from the IPUMS.
References:
Huang, C., Li, Z., Venkat Narayan, K.M., Williamson, D.F., & Martorell, R. (2010a). Bigger Babies Born to Women Survivors of the 1959–1961 Chinese Famine: A Puzzle due to Survival Selection? Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, 1, 412-418.
Huang, C., Li, Z., Wang, M., & Martorell, R. (2010b). Early Life Exposure to the 1959–1961 Chinese Famine Has Long-Term Health Consequences. The Journal of Nutrition, 140, 1874-1878.