The National Survey of Household Living Conditions 2004, Multipurpose Survey
Lebanon, 2004 - 2005
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LBN_2004_HLC_v01_M
The National Survey of Household Living Conditions 2004
Multipurpose Survey
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Lebanon | LBN |
The National Survey of Household Living Conditions (The multipurpose Survey, 2004) is a continuation of this role that was jointly initiated by the ministry and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), through a population and housing survey performed between 1994 and 1996. The results of this first survey set the basis to identify the demographic and social conditions in the mid-1990s. Furthermore, this survey helped form the foundations of the study of poverty and deprivation, as well as that of regional gaps, through the "Mapping of living conditions" implemented by the ministry in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme. Its results were widely requested, as it was the first national study focused on poverty which also adopted an innovative approach, one that is closer to the current understanding of human poverty, and as such acquired even greater significanceamong development communities.
Ten years after The Population and Housing Survey, and eight years after the publication of the 'Mapping of Living Conditions', the Ministry of Social Affairs joined efforts again with United Nations Development Programme, as well as the Central Administration for Statistics, with the support of other partners. In order to improve and update our understanding of current living conditions, it was decided to implement the second National Survey of Household Living Conditions - 2004.
The National Survey of Household Living Conditions 2004 was unanimously determined to be a multi-purpose survey, given the multiple objectives it serves. Dominant among those objectives was building a profound national study about poverty and deprivation based on two understandings: first,a definition of human poverty which accepts the Unsatisfied Basic Needs (UBN) approach, similar to the one adopted in 1998; and second, a grounding in the poverty line approach, which is calculated according to income and expenditure data with respect to international standards. This study will allow an assessment of the trends of living conditions and levels of deprivation during the past decade. As it is also a national study, it will also allow the computation of a national poverty line which can be used by macroeconomic policies and for international comparisons.
Sample survey data [ssd]
Households
Individuals
Scope
The National Survey of Household Living Conditions (The Multipurpose survey) provides a statistical database vital for the setting forth of national policies in various sectors. This database forms a basis for the studying and identification of:
• The demographic and social characteristics of households and their individuals.
• The characteristics of the individuals' economic activity.
• The characteristics of the household and the conditions of dwellings.
• Poverty lines and the characteristics of the poor.
• The household's budget, income and expenditure details.
• The consumption quantities of food and non-food items by households, and an updating of the weights used to produce the Consumer Price Index.
• The national accounts of finalhouseholdconsumption.
Coverage
National
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| Central Administration for Statistics |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Social Affairs | Administrative Support | |
| United Nations Development Program | Supervision, Technical and Administrative Support | |
| Capacity Building for Poverty Reduction Project | UNDP & MoSA | Supervision, Technical and Administrative Support |
Sampling
Sampling plan
The sampling plan was dual-phased; the sample of geographic islands was selected during phase I, and the primary residences sample from each primary sampling unit (PSU) was selected during phase II.
The sampling base for phase I was the PSU prepared by the Central Administration for Statistics in 2004 to conduct a comprehensive survey of the buildings and institutions. The sample's units were selected via a Systematic Random Sampling, after the PSUs were organized to ensure the best possible geographic distribution, following specific sampling designs. A survey was then made of the buildings and units within the PSUs for selection of the primary residences. A drawing step equivalent to 7.5 was adopted in the densely populated areas and 5 in the less populated areas, determining the surveyed residences in each of the PSUs.
The sample covered primary residences distributed across Lebanese territory, with the exception of the Palestinian camps, regardless of the nationality of the residence's occupants. The actual sample size was 14,948 households designated to fill out the Household Living Conditions questionnaire. Out of this sample, a smaller sample was selected to fill out the other questionnaires pertaining to household expenditures.
The studies on household expenditures required year-long fieldwork,to include coverage of the households' varied seasonal expenditures. As such, this sample was divided into 27 intervals, each covering two weeks. A balanced distribution was maintained through:
• Providing coverage of all Lebanese territory at any of the survey stages; and
• Designing the length of the survey period to allow the emergence of seasonal changes in expenditures.
Out of the sample, 13,003 households - consisting of 56,513 individuals - completed the data in the questionnaire. The response rate reached 87% of the households sampled. The questionnaires of the remaining 1,945 households were not filled out due to the households' refusal to respond, or their absence from the residences.
Survey instrument
The study consists of four questionnaires: one on living conditions, and the other three pertaining to household expenditure.
a. Living conditions questionnaire:
This questionnaire investigates the characteristics of individuals at the demographic, educational, economic, health and other levels. It also includes data pertaining to the household, such as the household's financial condition and its sources of income, the characteristics of the primary and secondary residences, expenditures associated with the residence, its surroundings and external disturbances, domestic services provided by others and transportation means.
b. Household expenditure questionnaires
(1) Purchases questionnaire for previous periods: Includes data pertaining to the cost of services and purchases of specific goods for the household during the past 12 months prior to completing the questionnaire.
(2) Expenditure diary 1: The household head, or any member of the household in charge of household purchases, recorded what was bought (both goods and services), what the household received for free, and what it had presented as gifts, (or what it received from its own production or work), for a period of 14 days, in addition to information regarding meals and their locations. This individual provides data on his/herself, and all household members aged below 15 years.
(3) Individual questionnaire and expenditure diary 2: This series of questions was provided to all household members aged 15 years and above. Each individual was requested to write down everything purchased, received or presented as a gift (or what the individual had received from his/her own production or work) for a period of 14 days, in addition to information regarding meals and their locations. Moreover, this booklet included data on the financial status and income of the relevant individual.
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2004-02 | 2005 |
Preparatory work
The preparatory phase of the survey included basic functions such as: preparing the questionnaires and testing them; formulating office and fieldwork guidelines;determining the sampling plan, selecting the sample and preparing maps for fieldwork;forming working groups,preparing training material for the surveyors and training them; customizing a computer program to administer the status of the questionnaires in each sample unit by tracking each questionnaire from its initial data entry in the field,until its completion and archiving;and finally performing the pilot test before initiating the fieldwork.
Field work
In January 2004, 110 people attended a training workshop, which concluded with a field and office test.Individuals who passed the exams were selected to join the fieldworkteams, consisting of two field supervisors and two field researchers, to hold the interviews and fill out the questionnaires. The field work started in February 2004, and lasted for a period of 54 weeks. The teams encountered numerous difficulties,including convincing the households to respond to the surveys, and trying to maintain the continuity of fieldwork through out the survey's period.
Data processing
Verification and coding
The objective of verification and coding is to ensure that the field researcher has filled out the questionnaires according to instructions, to avoid errors. Each questionnaire was initially reviewed by the field supervisor,and was then checked and coded by the Central Administration for Statistics office teams in distinct phases:the initial checking and coding, coding of professions and economic activities according to international classifications, andchecking and final review before entering the questionnaires into the computer.
Entering data into computers, cleaning the data and generating the statistical tables
An ORACLE computer program was set up to enter data, along with various specialized programs to check the data entered for errors, including data entry inaccuracies. Then the files were transferred to the SPSS(Statistical packages for Social Sciences) program to generate statistical tables - some of which appeared in the survey report available as external resources.
Data appraisal
All figures provided by this study are estimates,based on the selected sample. A "sampling error" should be taken into consideration, thus a 95% confidence interval was computed.
Data Access
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.
Copyright © 2006 All rights reserved for Central Administration for Statistics and UNDP/MoSA Project “Capacity Building for Poverty Reduction”
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Administration for Statistics | center@inco.com.lb | www.cas.gov.lb | |
| Microdata Library | World Bank | microdatalib@worldbank.org |
Metadata production
DDI_LBN_2004_HLC_v01_M_WB
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Development Economics Data Group | The World Bank | Documentation of the DDI |
2013-09-11
Metadata version
Version 01 (September 2013)