Household Budget Survey 1995
Latvia, 1995
Identification
LVA_1995_HBS_v01_M
Household Budget Survey 1995
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Latvia | LVA |
Income/Expenditure/Household Survey [hh/ies]
The new Household Budget Survey did not start on an empty spot. In a period between World War I and World War II the Central Statistical Board of Latvia conducted two surveys similar in nature. The first took place in 1926/1927, the second in 1936/1937. Of course, the sample size for these surveys was small and the results could only be used by scientific researchers. At that time the sampling was done based solely on the applications of volunteers. In the survey of 1926/1927, 62 to 101 households were surveyed each month, but in the survey of 1936/1937 some 241 households were questioned each period.
In the post-war period household budget surveys were started in 1952 within the system of the former Central Statistical Board of the USSR (later renamed Goskomstat). While the territorial sampling was used worldwide, this survey was based on the so called "sectoral" sampling principle. First, the quotas for the different sectors of the economy were determined (number of households in each sector of the economy). Then in each sector specific companies were selected from the list of all companies in that sector. In those companies, a list of all full-time employees was used for further selection. The family (household) of the selected person was finally surveyed.
As the survey was continuous, observation of each household was not limited by time, or rather, observation of each household was encouraged for as long as possible. These conditions were satisfactory only in a planned economy when the changes with regard to the living standard of the population were small, real unemployment did not exist, and private initiative and entrepreneurship were practically impossible. The data of the survey was used only marginally since the secrecy of this kind of information was very important and only a limited number of users had access to it. As the years passed by, the number of surveyed households changed, and finally reaching 1300.
In conditions of rapid social change, the sample for the survey could not follow the developments taking place in society (increase of unemployment, development of private entrepreneurial activity, rapid increase of the share of poor people in the society). Under these conditions it was necessary to work on the preparation of a new survey while continuing to use the old one. It was necessary to build a new survey that would correspond to the requirements of international statistical organizations and that would be based on completely new data processing technologies, using personal computers. The new Household Budget Survey was initiated in September 1995. It is a continuous survey with information from households obtained every month.
The main purpose of the data collection is to address and analyze issues related to total income, expenditure and consumption levels and structures of both households and the main socio-economic groups. The Household Budget Survey (HBS) provides a source of information on qualitative and quantitative indicators of standard of livings in Latvia. The household is the basic unit of the survey. It is defined as a person or group of persons tied by relationship or other personal relations, having common subsistence expenditures and inhabiting the same living unit (house, flat, etc.), maintenance of which is covered by such persons jointly.
The survey comprises information on the structure of the households, their revenue and consumer expenditures, employment of the household members, living conditions, possession of consumer durables, access to health care, culture, education, as well as subjective assessments of the households' level of welfare.
The HBS data will allow us to address the following issues:
- Information on income and consumption, characteristics of consumption in relation to different social layers, number of household members, children etc.;
- Information for calculation of consumer price index;
- Linkages between different components of material welfare, e.g., revenue and living area conditions, revenue and access to consumer durable in households, etc.;information for various statistical purposes, e.g., for calculation of gross domestic product for the national account statistics;
- Level of consumption of food products, components of nutritive and calorie consumption in different groups of households;
- Indicators of poverty, to investigate the spread of poverty into different layers of society.
In the context of the envisaged reform of the social security system, the survey shall enable monitoring and evaluation of social policies with respect to:
- Improvement of social aid to different socially vulnerable groups;
- Reform of social security system;
- Poverty problems in the state.
The survey is multi-functional. This means, that even during the preparatory phase of the survey the scope of issues included can be changed or amplified if necessary by adding or substituting relevant sets of the survey.
The HBS is organized with the expectation that the results will be used by a wide spectrum of users. The CSB will publish the data of the survey in the form of tables, and prepare analytical reports and statistical bulletins. It is foreseen to make the basic data files available on magnetic information carriers to a range of users. These microfiles will contain the basic data of the survey on a quarterly basis, having discarded any identification signs that would allow the identification of individual households.
Sample survey data [ssd]
Households
Scope
The Household Survey covers the following:
- Household composition
- Housing conditions
- Area of land used by the household
- Employment status of all household members who are 15 years and older
- Personal income of household members
- Income of the household as a whole
- Financial transfers
- Equipment in durable goods - leisure and cultural goods, electric appliances for household purposes, means of transportation or recreation
- Respondent self assessment of the household living conditions
- Access to selected public institutions/facilities
The Household Diary covers the following:
- Total number of meals consumed by the household members and people invited by them (guests and visitors)
- Household expenditure on goods and services
- Taxes, other liabilities and payments, or financial transfers
- Goods and services obtained for household consumption from: own plot of land, other households, home-production and other support
- Input and output of the farming activities (Agricultural holding or plot of land).
Coverage
The data are collected over three main domains, Riga and large cities, small towns and villages in rural areas.
The target population of the HBS consists of all households in Latvia. Persons living in institutional households (elderly people boarding house, disabled children boarding house, student hostels, hotels, barracks, hospitals, sanatoriums, penal institutions, etc.) and homeless people are excluded from the current survey.
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia | Government of Latvia |
Sampling
During the preparation stage of the survey it was decided to use the population register formed in the early 90s as the sampling frame. At the beginning of 1995, it included more than 99% of the Latvian population. In the pre-pilot survey in 1995 we found out that due to the different mistakes in the population register, several households were not found in the given addresses. Almost 10% of the entries of the register were outdated. Some respondents were dead. Other deficiencies were found with the addresses, physically non-existing addresses were also ascertained as well as other mistakes with the register. One should admit that the usage of the population register to form the sample of HBS makes the data processing procedures more difficult. However, in towns the population register was the only available register which allowed to create the HBS sample. It could mean that the principal survey should consider non-response, the amount of which could seriously impair the representativeness of the survey. Alternatives for the sampling frame were, therefore, sought out. One of the alternatives turned out to be the complete list of households of the local governments - the civil parish. Of 32 parishes included in the first phase of HBS, 11 parishes already had a full list of households due to a previous agricultural survey. Therefore, it was necessary to prepare the identical lists only for the remaining 21 parishes.
Survey instrument
Two types of principal survey forms were developed in order to perform the survey: the Household Diary and the Household Questionnaire. Each of them has a task of its own and information contained in one is not repeated in the other.
The Household Diary is completed by the household itself and it contains data on all money expenditure, goods and services received free of charge or from own production representing all expenditures in relation to the household (in cash and kind). Each household receives two diaries in succession: the first - for the first 15 days of the month, and the second for the period until the end of the month (from 16 to 30 or 31, depending on the month)
The Household Questionnaire is filled in by the interviewer. It consists of two interviews: an introductory (preliminary) interview and a final interview. Whilst the first part contains more general questions in relation to the members of the household, conditions of the living area, employment of the household members, the second part, which is filled in during the final interview, contains questions that might be raised only if a certain degree of trust has been established between the household and the interviewer. These are questions on income of the household members, existence of consumer durables, etc.
Actually the interviewer must visit the household in-between the above-mentioned visits in order to ascertain the manner in which the household fills in the diary, whether it needs any assistance and/or additional explanations. Quite often, the diaries are not filled in on a sufficiently regular basis, and an additional inquiry on purchases made in between the visits proves to be necessary. Such assistance is often necessary for older people, as well as to those with poor eye-sight or other handicaps .
In all cases whereby the household sampling list contains a household not found at the given address (false address, change of address, nobody lives at the given address, long-term absence of the addressee, etc.) or a household refuses to participate in the survey, a Report on reasons of non-response is completed.
Data collection
| Start |
|---|
| 1995-09 |
Every month a total of approximately 666 households are interviewed. The data are collected over three main domains, Riga and large cities, small towns and villages in rural areas.
Training of Survey Personnel
The training took place from August 18 - 24, 1995, a few weeks prior to the commencement of the principal field-work.
It took 7 days for supervisors and 4 days for interviewers. In addition to the traditional subjects of such seminars on the significance of the survey, requirements towards data quality, duties of the field-work personnel and connection with supervisors, interviewing methods, notes to the application forms, consistent control, use of sampling methods in the survey; types of action in cases of non-response, classification and usage of codes in the survey, practical tasks, and different types of tests were included in the seminar. Apart from these topics, financial aspects of the survey were considered as well as studies on data entry organization, and a psychologist was invited from the university of Latvia to read a lecture on psychological and social problems of interviewing.
Data appraisal
Quality of data, interpretation of content of application forms in quarter IV, 1995 was influenced by the fact that interviewers, despite their education, were not sufficiently qualified yet.
Data Access
| Name | URL | |
|---|---|---|
| Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia | http://www.csb.gov.lv/ | info@csb.gov.lv |
Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the Identification of the Primary Investigator
- the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia | info@csb.gov.lv | http://www.csb.gov.lv | |
| Microdata Library | World Bank | microdatalib@worldbank.org |
Metadata production
DDI_LVA_1995_HBS_v01_M_WB
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Development Economics Data Group | The World Bank | Documentation of the DDI |
2013-10-04
Metadata version
Version 01 (October 2013)