Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Title: Household Budget and Expenditure Survey 1996

GENERAL INFORMATION AND BASIC DEFINITIONS

1. Background

Further information is available from Statistical Office of Central Planning Division, Ministry of Finance andPlanning Kingstown, St.Vincent and the Grenadines, phone: 784 457 2921, fax: 784 456 2430, e-mail: stassvg@vincysurf.com.
Data have been collected by household survey since 1976.

2. Purpose and coverage

The following purposes are considered to be very important or of some importance:

• to obtain weights for consumer price index
• to estimate household expenditure for national accounts
• to study the general structure of household incomes/expenditures
• to study income/expenditure disparities among socio-economic groups
• for general poverty and/or income distribution studies

Lesser importance is attached to:

• to study income/expenditure patterns of disadvantaged groups, including pensioner households, single parent households, etc
• to study consumer behaviour among socio-economic groups
• to study effects on income and expenditure of policy changes, especially tax changes
• for market research purposes

Geographic coverage: National without any specific geographic areas excluded.

Population coverage:
The following types of household are included in the data collection:

• one person private households
• non-resident households of nationals (households of nationals located abroad)
• diplomatic households in the country
• households of other foreigners in the country
• armed forces residing in private housing outside military base

The following types of household are excluded in the data collection:

• those in collective housing (such as long term hospitals, prisons, monasteries, military quarters)

Units:
Dwelling units are used in the sample selection and are characterised by:

• single structure - detached housing unit
• single unit in a structure containing more than one housing unit
• multiple structures within a compound (e.g. huts)
• street address

Data are recorded for the household unit which is characterised by:

• one person units
• two or more people living together:
  • sharing a single dwelling or compound
  • sharing meals
  • sharing a common budget for (at least) food and housing expenditures

Data are recorded for the family unit which is characterised by:

• two or more people:
  • living in the same household
  • sharing a single dwelling unit or compound
  • related:
    • by blood
    • by marriage
    • by adoption
    • by consensual union
  • sharing meals
  • sharing a common budget for (at least) food and housing expenditures

Data are recorded for the consumer unit, expenditure unit or spending unit which is characterised by:

• two or more people:
  • living in the same household
  • sharing a single dwelling or compound
  • sharing meals
  • sharing a common budget for (at least) food and housing expenditures

Unit members: Usual residents temporarily living away from the dwelling are not included as unit members. Visitors (not usual residents) temporarily living in the dwelling are included, if staying continuously for more than 3 months. Domestic staff living in same dwelling/compound are not included in the unit. Renters living in same dwelling/compound are included in the unit. Boarders living in same dwelling/compound are not included in the unit.

Head of unit:
The concept of head of household/other unit is used in this survey and is characterised by:

• acknowledged as such by other household/unit members
• recognized owner, or responsible for tenancy of dwelling
• responsible for financial maintenance of household/unit
• main income earner

3. Reference periods

The time period to which income and/or expenditure statistics refer when released/published is from 10/95 to 09/96. These data are collected in the period from 10/95 to 09/96. This survey is conducted irregularly/occasionally. The statistics are published irregularly/occasionally.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

4. Sample design

The Primary, Secondary and Ultimate Sampling Units are enumeration area/district, dwelling and household respectively.

Stratification:
Areas/districts were stratified using the following criteria:

• administrative districts

The sampling frames for the Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) and Ultimate Sampling Unit (USU) were the list of Census enumeration areas and the master sample of households respectively. Primary Sampling Units (PSU) were selected using simple random sampling and Ultimate Sampling Units (USU) were selected using probability proportional to size. The sample size was 1160 households or other units. The overall response rate for the survey was 90 percent. Errors/biases were minimized by using an updated sampling frame.

Enumeration procedure: Enumeration uses a single round survey design in which each reporting unit is enumerated only once. No action is taken to select a smaller set of reporting units for more detailed questioning.

DATA COLLECTION, CONCEPTS, DEFINITIONS AND CLASSIFICATIONS

5. Income data

6. Expenditure data

Data collection method:
Diaries are used to collect expenditure data and are maintained for one month.

Diaries are used to collect expenditure on the following items:

• food
• alcohol, tobacco
• other household non-durables (such as newspapers, batteries)
• clothing, footwear
• other personal non-durables (such as perfumes)
• household services (such as plumber)
• personal services (such as driving lessons, haircuts)

Interviews are not used to collect expenditure data.

7. Other Data Collection Issues

The following other topics are covered:

• demographic characteristics
• education attainment of members
• employment status of members
• occupation of members
• housing characteristics

Households are not requested to indicate whether durable goods are new or second-hand when their acquisition is recorded.

Non-response: There is no substitution for non-response, whether by non-contact or by refusal.

Reporting errors are reduced using the following measures:

• careful instrument design
• adequate cues or props for prompting
• quality control

DATA PROCESSING, ANALYSIS AND DISSEMINATION

Answers are not pre-coded on data collection forms, but are coded by office staff.

Extreme values are amended. Neither in-kind receipts nor consumption of own production is included in the estimates.

Treatment of owner-occupied housing: Values of owner-occupied housing are included in the total income/expenditure estimates and are valued using the repayment method (down payments, mortgage and interest payments, plus taxes).

Treatment of selected groups/values in analysis: Some households/units are excluded from analysis because of incomplete response. Missing values are retained without change . Supplementary sources are not used to adjust estimates for under- or over-reporting. No groups are excluded from data analysis.

Weighting:
Weighting factors are used to adjust for:

• sampling

Sampling errors: Sampling errors are computed for all aggregates but these sampling errors are not available.

Tabulation and Analysis: Statistics are presented showing averages per year and statistics are analysed and tabulated for households only.

The following classifications are used for tabulation and analysis of expenditure statistics:

• age of reference person or head of household
• sex of reference person or head of household
• occupation of reference person or head of household
• expenditure percentiles
• household size

Documentation and Dissemination:
Published survey reports: analysis of HBES-St.Vincent and the Grenadines, sept 1998

Separate tables are published for households with wages/salaries as main source of income. Files of unidentifiable unit data are not available (or available on request) for public use.