DDI_LVA_1999_HBS_v01_M_WB Development Economics Data Group 2013-10-04 NADA Version 01 (October 2013) Household Budget Survey 1999 HBS 1999 Majsaimniecibu Budzetu Petijums 1999 LVA_1999_HBS_v01_M Eurostat Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia NADA Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia Microdata Library Income/Expenditure/Household Survey [hh/ies] Since 1989, Eurostat has collected three rounds of data for the following reference years: • 1988, with the participation of 10 Member States; • 1994, with the participation of 15 Member States; • 1999, with the participation of 15 Member States. In the first round, the methodologies used by the MS to carry out the HBS were very far from being harmonised. Since then, all the countries participating in this project and Eurostat have made great efforts to harmonise their HBS and to improve data comparability. However, there is still some room for improvement. In Latvia The survey is conducted annually. The first such survey was conducted in September 1995. (See Table 7 of the attached Methodological Analysis document - on Timing of the HBS in Candidate Countries). The Household Budget Surveys (HBS) in the European Union are sample surveys of private households carried out regularly under the responsibility of the National Statistical Offices (NSIs) in each of the fifteen Member States (European Statistical System). Essentially, they provide information about household consumption expenditure on goods and services, with considerable details in the categories used; information on income, possession of consumer durable goods and cars; basic information on housing and many demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Contrarily to other European statistical domains, the transmission of HBS data to Eurostat is voluntary and no EU regulation exists. HBS are national surveys, and there is therefore a great degree of freedom for each Member State to decide on the objectives, methodology, programming and resource assignment for their respective HBS. Latvia National Household The target population of the HBS consists of all households in Latvia. Persons living in institutional households (old people 's homes, disabled children's homes, student hostels, hotels, barracks, hospitals, sanatoriums, penal institutions, etc.). Homeless people are excluded from the current survey. Definitions applied in the Latvia HBS: Household - People tied by personal relationship, having common subsistence expenditure and inhabiting the same dwelling unit. Household head - The household member considered as such by the other household members Aggregated data for 1999 were calculated using the concept of reference person recommended by Eurostat. Child-adult - Children are people under 18 years old. Sample survey data [ssd] The survey collected information on the household income, expenditure, updating the weights for CPI, data for NA and calculation of poverty indices. The Population register which includes more than 99% of the total population of Latvia was used as the sampling frame. The net sample size for this survey was 3 929 households. The 2000 census counted 802 848 households. Sample Design Stratified two-stage probability sampling was applied. Households were stratified by the degree of urbanisation and by geographical allocation. The sample allocation between strata was made proportional to the population sizes within strata. In urban areas the population register was chosen as the sampling frame, while the lists of households were used in rural areas. In the new survey the primary sampling units were Population Census enumeration districts. The PSU were included by systematic probability proportional to size design within each stratum. The units within each PSU with simple random sampling were sampled households. The same sampling procedure was used in all strata. Stratification used 3 main domains 1) Riga and 6 large cities 2) Medium-sized and small towns 3) Rural areas Household substitution was alowed in order to improve the response rates. Face-to-face [f2f] The HBS in the Latvia and the rest of the candidate countries use two main instruments: interviews and diaries. In Latvia 1999 there was a Preliminary and a Final Interview, and one Diary was used. In May 2001 the new redesigned HBS was launched (change of questionnaire design, reference period - last 12 months for data collection of non-regular income and durable goods, etc.). The following were applied specifically to the Latvia HBS: Recording Periods Income : the last month Food : 2 weeks Non-food, services : once a month Reference Period: One month Concepts of consumption expenditure: - Final consumption expenditure - Monetary consumption expenditure - Other Evaluation of goods and services for own final consumption: All households in the sample were questioned Goods and services were evaluated by the household Evaluated at purchaser's price Included at the time of consumption Treatment of leasing and hire purchase in the HBS: At the time of taking possession. Recording of transactions in existing goods in the HBS: Second hand goods are treated as new goods Recording of health, education and other social benefits in kind in the HBS: Recording principle - Gross expenditure; Other social benefirs in kind: evaluated services received from social assistance Recording of wages and salaries in kind in the HBS: Latvia HBS considers Free or reduced cost housing; gas, electricity or water; telephone; other. Main classifications used: COICOP; ISCED-97;ISCO,ISCE Grossing up procedures applied: 1) Estimates at domain level. 2) National estimates using the Horqwitz-Thompson estimator Weighting: Calculation of inclusion probabilities and design weights In order to allow Eurostat to process the data received so as to perform ex-post harmonisation and to answer specific requests of the users, countries deliver micro-data to Eurostat. However, the gentlemen’s agreement only allows Eurostat disclosing aggregated tables or indicators. SPSS was used for data processing in Latvia. Production time is 3-4 months after the end of the survey year. Response rate was 76% after substitution. Sampling representativeness of the HBS in Latvia - The following groups were underrepresented: - Households of entrepreneurs and self-employed - Very rich households Data entry controls were applied Results we compared with the final consumption figures from NA to check coherence with other statistics. Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia Director of Social Statistics 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 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.