Iceland

Title: Household Budget Survey, continuous as of year 2000

GENERAL INFORMATION AND BASIC DEFINITIONS

1. Background

Further information is available from Statistics Iceland of Borgartün 21a, IS-150, Reykjavik, Iceland, phone: 354 528 1201, fax: 354 528 1099, e-mail: rosmundur.gudnason@hagstofa.is.
Data have been collected by household survey since 1939.

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 consumer behaviour among socio-economic groups

Lesser importance is attached to:

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

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

Units: Dwelling units are not used in the sample selection.

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: ¹ Usual residents temporarily living away from the dwelling are included, if away intermittently for less than 50 percentage of 12 months. 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. Renters living in same dwelling/compound are not included in the unit. Boarders living in same dwelling/compound are included in the unit.

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

• main income earner

3. Reference periods

The time period to which income and/or expenditure statistics refer when released/published is from 01/00 to 12/02. These data are collected in the period from 01/00 to 12/02. This survey is conducted continuously. The statistics are published annually.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

4. Sample design

The Primary, Secondary and Ultimate Sampling Units are none, none and household respectively.

Stratification:

The sampling frames for the Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) and Ultimate Sampling Unit (USU) were a set of administrative registers (or combination of such registers) and none respectively. The sample size was 1200 households or other units. The overall response rate for the survey was 54 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. The sample is divided into 26 representative sub-samples. 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

Income data are collected. Receipts have to be regular and recurring to be considered as income. 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:²

• wages and salaries
• cash bonuses and gratuities
• commissions and tips
• remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay
• termination and redundancy payments
• royalties
• regular pensions/annuities from schemes to which employee does not contribute
• retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes
• old age benefits
• other pensions
• unemployment benefits
• family-related allowances
• sickness benefits
• invalidity benefits
• education-related allowances
• housing allowances
• survivors benefits

The following receipts are collected but not separately:²

• 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: other goods or services
• drawing for own use from unincorporated enterprises

The following receipts are not collected:²

• employer social security contributions
• employee social security contributions
• employee income in-kind provided free or subsidized: goods or services produced by employer
• profit/loss from unincorporated enterprises (mixed income)
• goods produced for own consumption
• services produced for own consumption
• goods produced for barter
• services produced for barter
• stock consumed from unincorporated enterprise
• services from owner-occupied dwellings
• services from other consumer durables (net)
• interest received
• dividends
• rentals (payment received for produced assets e.g. house)
• rents (payment received for un-produced assets e.g. land)
• 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: family, e.g. alimony, child/parental support
• regular inter-household transfers received from: regular inheritances or trusts
• 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: free dwelling
• regular inter-household transfers received from: subsidized dwelling
• 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 classified as income from paid employment:

• 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

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

• drawing for own use from unincorporated enterprises

The following receipts are collected using the last 3 months as the reference period:

• 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: other goods or services

The following receipts are collected using the last 12 months as the reference period:

• drawing for own use from unincorporated enterprises

The reference period for:

• wages and salaries was 1 year
• cash bonuses and gratuities was 1 year
• commissions and tips was 1 year
• remuneration for time not worked, e.g. leave pay
• termination and redundancy payments was 1 year
• royalties was 1 year
• regular pensions/annuities from schemes to which employee does not contribute was 1 year
• retirement pensions from compulsory social security schemes was 1 year
• old age benefits was 1 year
• other pensions was 1 year
• unemployment benefits was 1 year
• family-related allowances was 1 year
• sickness benefits was 1 year
• invalidity benefits was 1 year
• education-related allowances was 1 year
• housing allowances was 1 year
• survivors benefits was 1 year

Income data were collected separately for each person receiving income. Components of income for an individual were collected from registers . 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 two weeks.

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 used to collect expenditure data with the respondent completing the interview by a mix of recall and using documentation.

Data for the following expenditure items are collected by referring:²

• to expenditures in last 3 months:
  • housing
  • other durable goods
  • households services
  • personal services

Data for the following expenditure items are not collected by interview because they are collected by diary:

• food
• other household non-durable goods
• clothing, footwear
• other personal non-durable goods

The following types of expenditure items are classified as 'Household consumption expenditure':

• non-durable goods purchased
• durable goods purchased (except housing)
• purchase price of owner-occupied housing
• services of owner-occupied housing
• financial services (including fees for financial advice, brokerage fees)
• non-life insurance premiums (e.g. vehicle, housing, other property, medical) , net of claims
• licences and fees (e.g. driver's licence, hunting licence, vehicle registration)
• gambling expenditure , net of winnings
• out of pocket health expenditure , net of claims
• out of pocket education expenditures , net of refunds
• out of pocket transport expenditures , net of refunds
• housing maintenance, minor repairs
• purchase of gifts of goods and services given to others outside the household
• second hand goods purchased
• expenditure abroad

The following types of expenditure items are classified as 'Actual Household consumption':

• own produced non-durable goods
• own-produced durable goods

The following types of expenditure items are classified as 'Non-consumption household expenditure':

• interest payments (excluding mortgage interest payments)
• life insurance premiums
• regular cash payments to others outside the household
• non-regular cash payments to others outside the household
• compulsory transfers to governments (e.g. contributions to government old age and disability insurance program, taxes)
• investment-related expenditures (e.g. purchase of shares/stocks)

The following types of expenditure items are classified as 'Non-household expenditure':

• occupational expenditures
• other business-related expenditures

The following types of expenditure items are classified as 'Investment/liability expenditure':

• mortgage repayments, including interest
• major repairs, conversions and extensions to owner-occupied housing

The following types of expenditure items are excluded due to measurement problems:

• income in-kind receipts of goods
• income in-kind receipts of services
• own-produced services
• services from durables owned (except housing)
• in-kind goods received from other households
• in-kind services received from other households
• social transfers in-kind of goods and services from government and non-profit institutions serving households

The following types of expenditure items are collected on a 'use' basis:

• non-durable goods purchased
• durable goods purchased (except housing)
• purchase price of owner-occupied housing
• financial services (including fees for financial advice, brokerage fees)
• non-life insurance premiums (e.g. vehicle, housing, other property, medical) , net of claims
• licences and fees (e.g. driver's licence, hunting licence, vehicle registration)
• gambling expenditure , net of winnings
• out of pocket health expenditure , net of claims
• out of pocket education expenditures , net of refunds
• out of pocket transport expenditures , net of refunds
• housing maintenance, minor repairs
• purchase of gifts of goods and services given to others outside the household
• second hand goods purchased
• expenditure abroad

The following types of expenditure items are collected on a 'payments' basis:

• services of owner-occupied housing
• own produced non-durable goods
• own-produced durable goods

Classification: A national classification is used for classifying expenditure and has 1223 separate categories at the finest level. The classification is consistent with COICOP at the Class (4 digit) level.

7. Other Data Collection Issues

The following other topics are covered:

• demographic characteristics
• education attainment of members
• employment status of members
• occupation of members
• ownership of selected durable goods
• housing characteristics

Households are 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.

Non-response is reduced using the following measures:

• more than one repeat visits
• other incentives : participants receive a gift upon completion

Reporting errors are reduced using the following measures:

• careful instrument design
• bounding interview
• 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 retained without change. ⁴ In-kind receipts and consumption of own production are included in the estimates. In-kind receipts are valued using: the imputed in office processing using market prices. Consumption of own production is valued using: the imputed in office processing using market prices.

Treatment of owner-occupied housing: Values of owner-occupied housing are included in the total income/expenditure estimates and are valued using user costs (depreciation and interest or opportunity costs).

Treatment of selected groups/values in analysis: No households/units are excluded from analysis because of incomplete response. 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
• non-response

Sampling errors: Sampling errors are not computed.

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

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

• age of reference person or head of household
• occupation of reference person or head of household
• absolute income groups
• principal source of household income
• structure of household

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

• age of reference person or head of household
• occupation of reference person or head of household
• absolute income groups
• principal source of household income
• household size
• structure of household

Documentation and Dissemination:
Published survey reports: Household Budget Survey 1995, 1997
Published methodological information: Household Budget Survey 1995, 1997

Additional statistics (or special tables on request) are not available for public use. 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.