Slovakia

Title: Household Budget Surveys

GENERAL INFORMATION AND BASIC DEFINITIONS

1. Background

Further information is available from The Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic of Mileticova 3, 824 67 Bratislava, Slovak Republic, phone: 421 2 50236 767, fax: 421 2 50236 788, e-mail: helena.sukenikova@statistics.sk.
Data have been collected by household survey since 1957.

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
• for general poverty and/or income distribution studies
• to study effects on income and expenditure of policy changes, especially tax changes

Lesser importance is attached to:

• to study consumer behaviour among socio-economic groups
• for market research purposes

Geographic coverage: National with the following geographic areas excluded: remote or inaccessible areas .

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

• one person private households
• private households with more than one person

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
• armed forces residing in private housing outside military base

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 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 2 months. Visitors (not usual residents) temporarily living in the dwelling are included, if staying continuously for more than 1 months. more than 1 month in one quarter. Domestic staff living in same dwelling/compound are not included in the unit. Renters living in same dwelling/compound are not 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

3. Reference periods

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

4. Sample design

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

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

• geographical regions

Households/Consumption Unit, Income Unit, Family Unit were stratified using the following criteria:

• income class
• social class of the head
• number of children, number of members

The sampling frames for the Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) and Ultimate Sampling Unit (USU) were the master sample of households and micro census respectively. Primary Sampling Units (PSU) were selected using quota sampling. The sample size was 1600 households or other units and 1600 interviews.

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. 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 12 months during a year .

Diaries are used to collect expenditure on the following items:¹

• 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.

Classification: A national classification is used for classifying expenditure and has 439 separate categories at the finest level. The classification is consistent with COICOP at the Group (3 digit) level.

7. Other Data Collection Issues

The following other topics are covered:

• demographic characteristics
• education attainment of members
• employment status 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: Non-response households (refusals and non-contacts) are substituted.

Non-response is reduced using the following measures:

• monetary rewards
• other measures : voluntary collaboration

DATA PROCESSING, ANALYSIS AND DISSEMINATION

Answers are pre-coded on data collection forms to the extent possible.

Extreme values are amended. In-kind receipts and consumption of own production are included in the estimates. In-kind receipts are valued using: the imputed by field staff using market prices. Consumption of own production is valued using: the imputed by field staff using market prices.

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: No 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 not computed.

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 income statistics:

• other characteristic of reference person or head of household, socio-economic status
• absolute income groups
• structure of household

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

• other characteristic of reference person or head of household, socio-economic status
• absolute income groups
• structure of household

Documentation and Dissemination:
Published survey reports: Income, Expenditures and Consumption of Householdsin Rep. of Slovakia, 2000/2001

Additional statistics (or special tables on request) are available for public use, with charges (on request). Separate tables are not published for any special population groups. Files of unidentifiable unit data are available (or available on request) for public use, with charges.