National Statistical Institute

"Households Income, Expenditure Statistics and Quality of Life" Department

Rositsa Balakova

State expert

2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria

[email protected]

+359 2 9857 654

The main objective of the household budget survey is to get reliable and scientifically founded data on the income, expenditure, consumption and other elements of the living standard of the population as well as changes which have occurred during the years.

· Household income includes all receipts of the household and its members during the surveyed period. The income is estimate in total and monetary form. Monetary income includes regular receipts from: wages and salaries, other earnings, entrepreneurship, property, pensions, social benefits, regular inter-household transfers, as well as sale of property and other irregular receipts. Total income includes monetary and valued income in kind.

· Household expenditure includes all resources spend by the household and its members during the surveyed period. The expenditures are estimated in total and monetary form. Monetary expenditure includes consumer expenditure on foods and non-alcoholic beverages; alcoholic beverages and tobacco; clothing and footwear; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; furnishing and maintenance of the house; health; transport; communication; recreation, culture and education; miscellaneous goods and services; as well as taxes, social insurance, regular intro-household transfers and other non-consumer expenditure. Total expenditure includes monetary and valued expenditure in kind.

Variables of household incomes and expenditures are estimated average per household and per person and as structure.

• Household consumption includes the quantities of main foods and beverages consumed at home. The catering data are not included. The variables are estimated by the household budget survey are calculated by balance method and are presented average per person.
• Housing conditions variables are: type of dwelling, number of rooms, availability of water supply system, sewerage, electricity, bath and toilet.
• Durables ? observed durables are: cars, TV sets, washing machines, refrigerators and freezers, telephones, computers, air-conditioners and others.

Based on the Council of Ministers methods data from the regular HBS is used for calculation of poverty indicators and official country poverty line.

· Classification on household income. Since 2008 updated and harmonized regarding the Eurostat requirements for EU-SILC.

· Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP/HBS);

· Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose, at five-digit level;

· International Standard Classification of Education, version 1997 (ISCED 2011);

· National Classification of Occupations and Duties-2011 (NCOD-2011);

· Classification of Economic Activities (CEA-2008, for international use NACE.BG-2008);

· Classification of territorial units for statistical purposes in Bulgaria (NUTS).

The Household Budget Survey is a sample survey by implementation of two stage cluster. The general population from which the sample for the survey is formed comprises all the households in the country. Institutional households are not studied by the household budget survey. The unit of observation is every randomly chosen ordinary household irrespective of the number of members and their material and personal status. The sample size for the 2002 - 2009 period is 3000 households and since 2010 ?. - 3060 households each quarter.

Gross income

Gross household income is aggregated value of all regular incomes of the household and its members during the surveyed period from wages and salaries, other earnings, entrepreneurship, property, pensions, social benefits and regular inter-household transfers.

Net income

Net household income is calculated from gross income after deduction of tax and contribution to social insurance.

Consumer expenditure

The consumer expenditure of a household includes the expenditure done by the household for satisfaction of the necessities of the household as a whole or some household members.

Household

A private household consists of two or more persons living in a dwelling or part of dwelling and sharing common budget, having their meals together, no matter relatives or not.

One person living in a dwelling, separate room or part of room on his/her own budget also is considered a household.

Equivalent unit

For calculation of poverty indicators the total equivalised net income is used. The equivalence scales are applied to correct income for the household composition. The OECD modified scale is used giving a weight of 1.0 to the first member of the household aged 14 or more, 0.5 to each additional member aged 14 or more and 0.3 to each member aged less than 14 years old. The total net household income is divided by the equivalence scale that weights different members within the household with different weights according to their ages and the result is the total equivalised net income.

Household (ordinary household).

The general population from which the sample is formed comprises all ordinary households in the country.

Institutional households are not studied by the HBS.

According to the Classification of territorial units for statistical purposes in Bulgaria (NUTS).

2001 ? 2009 (Monthly and yearly data), since 2010 - quarterly and yearly data.

Not applicable.

BGN, per cent (%), kg, litre, number, number of persons, ccal

Month (before 2009); Quarter (since 2010); Year

Gentlemen agreement with Eurostat.

Not applicable.

• Law on Statistics;

· Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Individual data are not published in accordance with article 25 of the Law on Statistics. The publishing of individual data can be performed only in accordance with article 26 of the same law.

Dates for release are defined in the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute. Quarterly data on household income, expenditure and consumption is available 45 days after the reference period and annual data ? in April of the year following the reference year.

The calendar is available on the NSI website: http://www.nsi.bg/en/node/480

Data is published on the NSI website, section Households Income and Expenditure in accordance with the Law on Statistics and the European Statistics Code of Practice respecting the professional independence and aimed at objectivity, transparency and equal treatment of all consumers.

Monthly (to 2009), Quarterly (since 2010), Annual

Household income, expenditure and consumption ? quarterly and yearly

· Publication "Household Budgets in the Republic of Bulgaria" - detailed annual data for different household groups (by place of residence, by number of household members, by number of employed persons, by number of children under 18, by total annual income per person in the household, by presence of pensioners, by professional and economic status of the household head, by decile groups);

· Booklet ?Household Budget Survey?;

· General Publications of the NSI.

Detailed results on Household Budgets are available to all users of the NSI website under the heading Households Income and Expenditure: http://www.nsi.bg/en/node/5640

Anonymised individual data can be provide for scientific and research purposes, and for individual request according to the Rules for the provision of anonymised individual data for scientific and research purposes.

Information service on request, according to the Rules for the dissemination of statistical products and services in NSI.

· Methodology and organisation of the household budgets survey:

http://www.nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/metadata/HH_HBS_Metodology_en.pdf

· Instruction for interviewers of Household budget survey.

National quality reports for 2005 and 2010. Eurostat?s quality report of the Household Budget Surveys in EU countries, 2005.

Through checking on field work and control of the thoroughness of the records in the diaries.

The data is of interest to a wide number of users - state authorities, public and international organizations (Eurostat, UN, UNICEF, ILO, etc), students and others.

No user' satisfaction surveys are carried out.

Maximal errors of main variables are between 2-5%.

The data are burdened with a certain stochastic error due to the sample character of the survey. The sampling errors calculated for main variables are published in annual publication "Household Budgets in the Republic of Bulgaria".

The number of replacements of the households and the reasons that the households do not take part in the survey are described in the methodological notes in the publication ?Household budgets in the Republic of Bulgaria?.

Quarterly data are published 45 days after the reference period.

Annual data are published in April of the year following the reference year.

The terms in 15.1 are observed.

Not applicable.

Long time series.

Household expenditure survey is in accordance with the following surveys: Consumer Price Indices, National Accounts, Purchasing Power Parity.

Every household receive 20 BGN per month of participation. It take part in the survey 4 months per year, average 2-3 hour per month.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Main documents of the Household budget survey are:

· Household dairy;

· Five questionnaires.

Monthly (to 2009), quarterly (since 2010)

The households keep a regular record in the Household Diary on:

· monetary and in-kind receipts, since 2010 and some irregular incomes for previous two months;

· monetary and in-kind expenditure, since 2010 and some irregular expenditures for previous two months.

The interviewers visit the household twice a month. During these visits they have a detailed conversation with the members of the household, check the completeness and reliability of the data entered into the diary and questionnaries.

Logical control of data is happened at the time when the information is introduced.

The data are calculated by means of specialized software on a PC.

Not applicable.