ICT usage in households and by individuals| Contact |
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| Contact organisation | National Statistical Institute |
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| Contact organisation unit | 'Labour costs, R&D, innovation and information society statistics' |
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| Contact name | Maia Papazova Lyubomira Angelova |
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| Contact person function | State expert Chief expert |
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| Contact mail address | 2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria |
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| Contact email address | [email protected] [email protected] |
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| Contact phone number | +359 2 9857 733 +359 2 9857 169 |
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| Contact fax number | |
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| Metadata update |
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| Metadata last certified | 05 December 2025 |
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| Metadata last posted | 05 December 2025 |
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| Metadata last update | 05 December 2025 |
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| Statistical presentation |
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| Data description | The survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals is part of the European Community Statistical Programme and is carried out on an annual basis in all EU member states by a common methodology. The aim of the survey is to collect and disseminate reliable and comparable information on the dissemination and use of ICT in households and by individuals in Bulgaria. The data are collected by a harmonised questionaire of Eurostat which is updated each year to reflect the evolving situation of information and communication technologies. The survey covers the following subjects: - access to and use of ICT by individuals and/or in households;
- use of internet for different purposes by individuals and/or in households;
- ICT security;
- Digital skills;
- e-Commerce;
- barriers to use of ICT and the internet;
- perceived effects of ICT usage on individuals and/or in households.
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| Classification system | - National Classification of Occupations and Duties-2005 (NCOD-2005) - until 2010;
- National Classification of Occupations and Duties-2011 (NCOD-2011) - since 1 January 2011;
- International Standard Classification of Education, 1997 version (ISCED '97) - until 2013;
- International Standard Classification of Education, 2011 version (ISCED 2011) - since 2014;
- Classification of territorial units for statistical purposes in Bulgaria (NUTS).
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| Sector coverage | The survey on ICT usage in households covers regular households which have at least one member aged between 16 and 74 years from different regions in Bulgaria and all their members aged between 16 and 74 years. The sample size for each year is about 5000 households which are randomly selected. |
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| Statistical concepts and definitions | Household is two or more persons, living in one dwelling or part of dwelling, sharing common budget and eating together. Household is also a person, living in one dwelling, room or part of it, who has a separate budget for the cost of meals and expenses to satisfy other needs. The fixed connection to the internet includes ADSL, SDSL, VDSL, fiber optics technology (FTTP), cable technology, etc. e-Commerce is the sale or purchase of goods or services conducted over computer networks by methods specifically designed for the purpose of receiving or placing of orders. The payment and the delivery of the goods or services do not have to be conducted online. e-Commerce transactions exclude orders made by manually typed e-mail messages. The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the use of internet-connected devices or systems (often called smart devices) that can also be connected to each other and can be monitored or remotely controlled via the internet. Digital skills indicator measures people's digital literacy and competence, and it is based on selected activities related to internet and software use performed by individuals in five specific areas: information and data literacy; communication and collaboration; problem solving; digital content creation and safety skills. According to the variety and complexity of activities performed, several levels of skills are computed - no skills, low, basic or above basic digital skills. |
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| Statistical unit | Households and individuals |
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| Statistical population | The survey population of Households consists of all private households having at least one member in the age group 16 to 74 years. The survey population of Individuals consists of all individuals aged 16 to 74. Individuals living in institutional (collective) households are excluded. |
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| Reference area | Households located in any part of the territory of the country. |
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| Time coverage | Annual time series are available from 2004 onwards. The contents of the model questionnaire is adapted each year to measure the development of the use of ICT. Therefore not all variables have long time series. |
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| Base period | Not applicable. |
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| Unit of measure |
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Per cent |
| Reference period |
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For most questions the reference period is the last three months before the interview. Questions related to the use of e-government refer to the 'last year' before the interview. |
| Institutional mandate |
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| Legal acts and other agreements | Until 2020: - Regulation (EC) No 808/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning Community statistics on the information society;
- Annual Commission Regulations implementing Regulation (EC) No 808/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning Community statistics on the information society for the relevant reference year;
From 2021: - Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples, amending Regulations (EC) No 808/2004, (EC) No 452/2008 and (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98;
- Annual Commission implementing Regulations specifying the technical items of the data set, establishing the technical formats for transmission of information and specifying the detailed arrangements and content of the quality reports on the organisation of a sample survey in the use of information and communication technologies domain for reference year 2021 pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
- Law on Statistics;
- National Statistical Programme.
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| Data sharing | Not applicable. |
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| Confidentiality |
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| Confidentiality - policy | - 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.
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| Confidentiality - data treatment | In compliance to the Law on Statistics (Articles 25 and 26). |
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| Release policy |
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| Release calendar | In accordance to the dates defined in the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute. |
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| Release calendar access | The calendar is available on the NSI website: http://www.nsi.bg/en/node/480 |
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| User access | In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services. |
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| Frequency of dissemination |
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Annual |
| Accessibility and clarity |
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| News release | Regular press release in the NSI's website. |
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| Publications | |
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| On-line database | Data on ICT usage in households and by individuals are available to all users of the NSI website under the heading Information Society. |
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| Micro-data access | In accordance to the Rules on Provision of the Anonymised Individual Data for Scientific and Research purposes. |
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| Other | Information services by order in accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services. |
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| Documentation on methodology | Methodological manual for statistics on the Information Society, by Eurostat. |
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| Quality documentation | Quality reports comprising general methodological information of the survey, on statistical unit, population, sampling design, response and non-response, data processing and sampling errors. |
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| Quality management |
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| Quality assurance | The Methodological Manual provides guidelines and standards for the implementation of the survey. |
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| Quality assessment | The national quality report provides users with basic information on quality at national level. |
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| Relevance |
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| User needs | Main users of the data are Government institutions, research institutions and other users from the country, the European Commission, the International Communication Union and other international organizations. |
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| User satisfaction | Not available. |
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| Completeness | The survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals implements the full set of compulsory variables, according to EU Regulations. |
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| Accuracy and reliability |
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| Overall accuracy | The sample used for the ICT usage in households and by individuals survey is a two-stage stratified cluster sample which includes about 5000 households. Due to the sampling approach used the estimation of the parameters obtained from the survey could vary from those in the population due to sampling errors, errors due to non-response, errors in registration or processing, etc. |
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| Sampling error | Standard sampling errors are calculated and reported for a selection of indicators and breakdowns by the use of special statistical software. |
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| Non-sampling error | |
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| Timeliness and punctuality |
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| Timeliness | Data are disseminated according to the NSI’s Release Calendar schedule. |
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| Punctuality | All deliverables are provided in time in accordance with the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute and the deadlines defined in the EU regulations in the ICT domain. |
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| Coherence and comparability |
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| Comparability - geographical | Fully comparable with all EU member states. |
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| Comparability - over time | Partially comparable due to the changes of the general methodology. |
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| Coherence - cross domain | Not applicable. |
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| Coherence - internal | Not applicable. |
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| Cost and burden |
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Not available. |
| Data revision |
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| Data revision - policy | In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services. |
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| Data revision - practice | In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services. |
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| Statistical processing |
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| Source data | Sample statistical survey on the ICT usage in households and by individuals. |
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| Frequency of data collection | Data are collected on an annual basis. |
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| Data collection | Face-to-face interviews. |
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| Data validation | Data validation is done by logical control of the primary data and comparison with the results of previous studies. Additional checks on comparability and data quality are carried out by Eurostat. |
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| Data compilation | Data processing is done by special statistical software. |
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| Adjustment | Not applicable. |
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| Comment |
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