Armenia

GENERAL INFORMATION AND BASIC DEFINITIONS

1. Background

Further information is available from National statistical service of the Republic of Armeniia of 3 government house, Republic avenue Yerevan, 375010, Republic of Armenia, phone: 3741 52 38 63, fax: 3741 52 19 21, e-mail: armstat@sci.am.
Data have been collected by household survey since 1998.

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 patterns of disadvantaged groups, including pensioner households, single parent households, etc
• to study income/expenditure disparities among socio-economic groups
• to study consumer behaviour among socio-economic groups
• for general poverty and/or income distribution studies

Lesser importance is attached to:

• 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
• private households with more than one person
• 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)
• 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 within military base

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

• 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

Unit members: Usual residents temporarily living away from the dwelling are included, if away continuously for less than 30 days. Visitors (not usual residents) temporarily living in the dwelling are not included as unit members. Domestic staff living in same dwelling/compound are included in the unit.

Head of unit: ¹
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

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

4. Sample design

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

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

• rural/urban
• administrative districts

The sampling frames for the Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) and Ultimate Sampling Unit (USU) were a list of administrative districts and none respectively. Primary Sampling Units (PSU) were selected using simple random sampling. The sample size was 3600 households or other units.

Enumeration procedure: Enumeration uses a single round survey design in which each reporting unit is enumerated only once. The sample is not divided into representative sub-samples.

DATA COLLECTION, CONCEPTS, DEFINITIONS AND CLASSIFICATIONS

5. Income data

Income data are collected. Income excludes receipts resulting from the sale or reduction of assets and/or from incurring liabilities. Income excludes receipts that are not currently available to the unit.

The following receipts are collected separately:

• wages and salaries
• cash bonuses and gratuities
• commissions and tips
• termination and redundancy payments
• goods produced for own consumption
• interest received
• dividends
• rents (payment received for un-produced assets e.g. land)
• unemployment benefits
• family-related allowances
• education-related allowances
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular cash gifts
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular in-kind gifts
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular free services
• social transfers in kind: medical services
• social transfers in kind: public education
• social transfers in kind: transport subsidies
• social transfers in kind: cultural and recreational services
• social transfers in kind: others

The following receipts are collected but not separately:

• remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: housing
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: meals
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: car/transportation
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: goods or services produced by employer
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: other goods or services
• royalties
• retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes
• old age benefits
• other pensions
• sickness benefits
• invalidity benefits
• regular inter-household transfers received from: family, e.g. alimony, child/parental support

The following receipts are not collected:

• employer social security contributions
• employee social security contributions
• profit/loss from unincorporated enterprises (mixed income)
• drawing for own use from unincorporated enterprises
• services produced for own consumption
• goods produced for barter
• services produced for barter
• stock consumed from unincorporated enterprise
• services from other consumer durables (net)
• rentals (payment received for produced assets e.g. house)
• regular pensions/annuities from schemes to which employee does not contribute
• housing allowances
• survivors benefits
• free government dwelling
• subsidized government dwelling
• food subsidies
• medical reimbursements
• other social insurance benefits
• other social assistance benefits
• regular support received from non-profit institutions serving households: cash, e.g. scholarships
• regular support received from non-profit institutions serving households: goods and services
• regular support received from non-profit institutions serving households: free dwelling
• regular support received from non-profit institutions serving households: subsidized dwelling
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular inheritances or trusts
• regular inter-household transfers received from: free dwelling
• regular inter-household transfers received from: subsidized dwelling

The following receipts are classified as income from paid employment:

• wages and salaries
• cash bonuses and gratuities
• termination and redundancy payments
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: housing
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: meals
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: car/transportation
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: goods or services produced by employer
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: other goods or services

The following receipts are classified as income from self-employment:

• goods produced for own consumption
• royalties

The following receipts are classified as property income:

• services from owner-occupied dwellings

The following receipts are classified as other employment-related income:

• commissions and tips
• remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay

The following receipts are classified as other income but not employment-related:

• interest received
• dividends
• rents (payment received for un-produced assets e.g. land)
• retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes
• old age benefits
• other pensions
• unemployment benefits
• family-related allowances
• sickness benefits
• invalidity benefits
• education-related allowances
• regular inter-household transfers received from: family, e.g. alimony, child/parental support
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular cash gifts
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular in-kind gifts
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular free services
• social transfers in kind: medical services
• social transfers in kind: public education
• social transfers in kind: transport subsidies
• social transfers in kind: cultural and recreational services
• social transfers in kind: others

The following receipts are collected using the last month as the reference period:

• wages and salaries
• cash bonuses and gratuities
• commissions and tips
• remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay
• termination and redundancy payments
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: housing
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: meals
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: car/transportation
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: goods or services produced by employer
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: other goods or services
• goods produced for own consumption
• interest received
• dividends
• rents (payment received for un-produced assets e.g. land)
• royalties
• retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes
• regular inter-household transfers received from: family, e.g. alimony, child/parental support
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular cash gifts
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular in-kind gifts
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular free services
• social transfers in kind: medical services
• social transfers in kind: public education
• social transfers in kind: transport subsidies
• social transfers in kind: cultural and recreational services
• social transfers in kind: others

Income data were collected separately for each person receiving income. Components of income for an individual were collected from one person who reported for all individuals. Negative values (business losses) were excluded when computing self-employment income.

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)
• ritual

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
• savings

Non-response: Non-response households (refusals and non-contacts) are substituted.

Non-response is reduced using the following measures:

• more than one repeat visits
• monetary rewards

DATA PROCESSING, ANALYSIS AND DISSEMINATION

Answers are not pre-coded on data collection forms, but are coded by the interviewers (data collectors). ²

The responses are edited by the following:

• interviewers, data collectors
• field supervisors
• office staff

Extreme values are amended. In-kind receipts are included in the estimates, but consumption of own production is not. In-kind receipts are valued using: the respondent's estimate.

Treatment of owner-occupied housing: Values of owner-occupied housing are not included in the total income/expenditure estimates.

Treatment of selected groups/values in analysis: Some households/units are excluded from analysis because of incomplete response. Missing values are by return to the household through interviewer. 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:³

Sampling errors: Sampling errors are computed for all aggregates and these sampling errors are available on request.

Tabulation and Analysis: Statistics are presented showing averages per month and statistics are analysed and tabulated for households and for individuals separately.

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

• absolute income groups
• principal source of household income

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

• sex of reference person or head of household
• other characteristic of reference person or head of household, unemployed head of household
• expenditure percentiles
• expenditure classes in monetary terms
• household size
• structure of household
• other characteristic of household

Documentation and Dissemination:
Published survey reports: Social snapshot and poverty in Armenia, 2000, 2002

Additional statistics (or special tables on request) are available for public use, free of charge. Separate tables are published for by vulnerable groups. Files of unidentifiable unit data are available (or available on request) for public use, free of charge.