Abstract

In 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina, one of the six republics in former Yugoslavia, became an independent nation. A civil war started soon thereafter, lasting until 1995 and causing widespread destruction and losses of lives. Following the Dayton accord, BosniaHerzegovina (BiH) emerged as an independent state comprised of two entities, namely, the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (FBiH) and the Republika Srpska (RS), and the district of Brcko. In addition to the destruction caused to the physical infrastructure, there was considerable social disruption and decline in living standards for a large section of the population. Alongside these events, a period of economic transition to a market economy was occurring. The distributive impacts of this transition, both positive and negative, are unknown. In short, while it is clear that welfare levels have changed, there is very little information on poverty and social indicators on which to base policies and programs. In the post-war process of rebuilding the economic and social base of the country, the government has faced the problems created by having little relevant data at the household level. The three statistical organizations in the country (State Agency for Statistics for BiH -BHAS, the RS Institute of Statistics-RSIS, and the FBiH Institute of Statistics-FIS) have been active in working to improve the data available to policy makers: both at the macro and the household level. One facet of their activities is to design and implement a series of household series. The first of these surveys is the Living Standards Measurement Study survey (LSMS). Later surveys will include the Household Budget Survey (an Income and Expenditure Survey) and a Labour Force Survey. A subset of the LSMS households will be re-interviewed in the two years following the LSMS to create a panel data set.

The three statistical organizations began work on the design of the Living Standards Measurement Study Survey (LSMS) in 1999. The purpose of the survey was to collect data needed for assessing the living standards of the population and for providing the key indicators needed for social and economic policy formulation. The survey was to provide data at the country and the entity level and to allow valid comparisons between entities to be made. The LSMS survey was carried out in the Fall of 2001 by the three statistical organizations with financial and technical support from the Department for International Development of the British Government (DfID), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Japanese Government, and the World Bank (WB). The creation of a Master Sample for the survey was supported by the Swedish Government through SIDA, the European Commission, the Department for International Development of the British Government and the World Bank. The overall management of the project was carried out by the Steering Board, comprised of the Directors of the RS and FBiH Statistical Institutes, the Management Board of the State Agency for Statistics and representatives from DfID, UNDP and the WB. The day-to-day project activities were carried out by the Survey Management Team, made up of two professionals from each of the three statistical organizations. The Living Standard Measurement Survey LSMS, in addition to collecting the information necessary to obtain a comprehensive as possible measure of the basic dimensions of household living standards, has three basic objectives, as follows: 1. To provide the public sector, government, the business community, scientific institutions, international donor organizations and social organizations with information on different indicators of the population's living conditions, as well as on available resources for satisfying basic needs. 2. To provide information for the evaluation of the results of different forms of government policy and programs developed with the aim to improve the population's living standard. The survey will enable the analysis of the relations between and among different aspects of living standards (housing, consumption, education, health, labour) at a given time, as well as within a household. 3. To provide key contributions for development of government's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, based on analysed data.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

Households

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

(a) SAMPLE SIZE A total sample of 5,400 households was determined to be adequate for the needs of the survey: with 2,400 in the Republika Srpska and 3,000 in the Federation of BiH. The difficulty was in selecting a probability sample that would be representative of the country's population. The sample design for any survey depends upon the availability of information on the universe of households and individuals in the country. Usually this comes from a census or administrative records. In the case of BiH the most recent census was done in 1991. The data from this census were rendered obsolete due to both the simple passage of time but, more importantly, due to the massive population displacements that occurred during the war. At the initial stages of this project it was decided that a master sample should be constructed. Experts from Statistics Sweden developed the plan for the master sample and provided the procedures for its construction. From this master sample, the households for the LSMS were selected. Master Sample [This section is based on Peter Lynn's note "LSMS Sample Design and Weighting - Summary". April, 2002. Essex University, commissioned by DfID.] The master sample is based on a selection of municipalities and a full enumeration of the selected municipalities. Optimally, one would prefer smaller units (geographic or administrative) than municipalities. However, while it was considered that the population estimates of municipalities were reasonably accurate, this was not the case for smaller geographic or administrative areas. To avoid the error involved in sampling smaller areas with very uncertain population estimates, municipalities were used as the base unit for the master sample. The Statistics Sweden team proposed two options based on this same method, with the only difference being in the number of municipalities included and enumerated.

(b) SAMPLE DESIGN For reasons of funding, the smaller option proposed by the team was used, or Option B. Stratification of Municipalities The first step in creating the Master Sample was to group the 146 municipalities in the country into three strata- Urban, Rural and Mixed - within each of the two entities. Urban municipalities are those where 65 percent or more of the households are considered to be urban, and rural municipalities are those where the proportion of urban households is below 35 percent. The remaining municipalities were classified as Mixed (Urban and Rural) Municipalities. Brcko was excluded from the sampling frame. Urban, Rural and Mixed Municipalities: It is worth noting that the urban-rural definitions used in BiH are unusual with such large administrative units as municipalities classified as if they were completely homogeneous. Their classification into urban, rural, mixed comes from the 1991 Census which used the predominant type of income of households in the municipality to define the municipality. This definition is imperfect in two ways. First, the distribution of income sources may have changed dramatically from the pre-war times: populations have shifted, large industries have closed, and much agricultural land remains unusable due to the presence of land mines. Second, the definition is not comparable to other countries' where villages, towns and cities are classified by population size into rural or urban or by types of services and infrastructure available. Clearly, the types of communities within a municipality vary substantially in terms of both population and infrastructure. However, these imperfections are not detrimental to the sample design (the urban/rural definition may not be very useful for analysis purposes, but that is a separate issue).

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Cleaning operations

(a) DATA ENTRY

An integrated approach to data entry and fieldwork was adopted in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Data entry proceeded side by side with data gathering to ensure verification and correction in the field. Data entry stations were located in the regional offices of the entity institutes and were equipped with computers, modem and a dedicated telephone line. The completed questionnaires were delivered to these stations each day for data entry. Twenty data entry operators (10 from Federation and 10 from RS) were trained in two training sessions held for a week each in Sarajevo and Banja Luka. The trainers were the staff of the two entity institutes who had undergone training in the CSPro software earlier and had participated in the workshops of the Pilot survey. Prior to the training, laptop computers were provided to the entity institutes, and the CSPro software was installed in them. The training for the data entry operators covered the following elements:

• Introduction to the LSMS Survey questionnaire; Introduction to the personal computers/ lap top computers; Copying data on diskette and printing of output
• The Data entry programme (CSPro). Understanding of the Round 1 data entry screens (Modules 1-10)
• Practice of Round 1 (data entry trainees enter questionnaires completed by interviewer trainees during practice interviews)
• Understanding of Round 2 Data entry screen (Modules 11-13)
• Practice of Round 2 Data entry screens (data entry trainees entered the questionnaires completed by interviewer trainees)
• Control Procedures; Copying

Abstract

This study aims to help address the issue of the appropriate use of statistical data in policy development in Serbia. Faced with enterprise restructuring, high unemployment and high levels of social exclusion, as well as the consequences of internal population displacement, the Government of Serbia (GoS) has recognized and acknowledged the need for fundamental reforms in social policy area and the collection of adequate data of social statistics. Reliable household data are scarce in Serbia, with the result that social policy making is put on a precarious basis. The exceptional circumstances of Serbia have left a legacy of immense complexity, in which social groups have become fractured and excluded. A statistically reliable basis for policy making, particularly in the social sphere, is a priority. Data on poverty and living standards are seen as a part of information system to support decision making by the GoS and its line Ministries. The public is also keenly interested in poverty data. Therefore poverty data are also crucially important for strategic planning bodies within GoS, and for donors in assessing their strategies in support of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS).

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

Households

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The population for LSMS consists of Republic of Serbia residents, excluding Kosovo and Metohija . The sampling frame for the LSMS was based on the Enumeration District (ED) delineated for the 2002 Serbia Census, excluding those with less than 20 households. It is estimated that the households in the excluded EDs only represent about 1 percent of the population of Serbia. The sampling frame also excludes the population living in group quarters, institutions and temporary housing units, as well as the homeless population: these groups also represent less than 1 percent of the population, so the sampling frame should cover at least 98 percent of the Serbian population. Stratification was done in the same way as for the previous LSMSs. Enumeration District were stratified according to: (1) Region in 6 strata (Vojvodina, Belgrade, West Serbia, Sumadija and Pomoravlj e, East Serbia and South East Serbia) (2) Type of settlement (urban and other)

The allocation of EDs according to region and type of settlement was propoI1ionai to the number of occupied dwellings, adjusted to provide sufficient precision of estimates at the regional level. To provide optimal sample sizes in each region we decided that the minimum number of allocated EDs to each stratum should be 60. The result of this procedure was a slight deviation from strictly proportional allocation. The sample size for LSMS 2007 was 71 40 households from 510 selected EDs. Within each ED 14 occupied dwellings were selected. From each selected occupied dwelling one household was selected (using a Kish Grid). The sample size was determined according with the aim of achieving 5,000 household interviews with an expected non-response rate of around 30%. The final response rate was 78%, producing a sample size of 5,557 households.

Sampling deviation

The overall estimated total number of households from the 2007 LSMS based on the final weights is about 10 percent lower than the corresponding figure from the 2002 Census frame. The difference is larger for the rural strata (12.1 percent) than the urban strata (8.7 percent). These differences probably include an actual decline in the number of households in some strata and may also reflect the quality of the updating of the listing of occupied dwelling units in sample EDs.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Response rate

Response rate was 78 percent

Abstract

Cambodia Living Standards Measurement Study – Plus (LSMS+) Survey 2019- 2020 was implemented by the National Institute of Statistics, with support from the World Bank LSMS+ program (www.worldbank.org/lsmsplus). The survey attempted to conduct private interviews with all the adult household members (aged 18 and older) in each sampled household as part of a nationally-representative survey sample. The individual disaggregated data collection had a focus on (i) ownership of and rights to physical and financial assets, (ii) work and employment, and (iii) non-farm enterprises, and was anchored in the latest international recommendations for survey data collection on these topics.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Household
• Individual

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) of this survey were the subsamples of the selected PSUs of the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey (CSES) 2019/20. The PSU in this case can either be a village (if the village is small) or an Enumeration Area (EA) from the mapping operation of 2019 General Population Census of Cambodia (if the village is large, exceeding 120 households). The Cambodia LSMS+ sample covered all the CSES’ s sample villages in three months (those selected for interviews during the October - December period of fieldwork) out of its twelve-month sample.

The Secondary Sampling Units (SSUs) in this survey constitute sample households. In this stage, 6 households were selected in each selected PSU. The selections of these households were carried out in the field by the field enumerators. The selection was done under the Circular Systematic Random Sampling (CSRS) scheme using the PSU frame of household from the household listing conducted by the CSES field enumerator in the selected PSU. More details can be found in the Basic Information Document.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

The Cambodia LSMS+ covered the following topics:

Household Questionnaire: - Household Roster - Children Living Elsewhere - Housing - Food Consumption - Non-food Consumption - Household Enterprises - Land Roster - Livestock Roster - Durables Roster

Individual-level Questionnaire: - Education - Health - Internal and International Migration - Labor - Time Use - Land Ownership and Rights - Livestock Ownership - Durables Ownership - Mobile Phone Ownership - Financial Accounts

Cleaning operations

Data Entry Platform

The Cambodia LSMS+ was conducted using Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) techniques. The questionnaire was implemented using the CAPI software, Survey Solutions. The Survey Solutions software was developed and maintained by the Data Analytics and Tools Unit within the Development Economics Data Group (DECDG) at the World Bank. Each interviewer was given one tablet, which they used to conduct the interviews. Overall, implementation of survey using Survey Solutions CAPI was highly successful, as it allowed for timely availability of the data from completed interviews.

Data Management

The data communication system used in the Cambodia LSMS+ was highly automated. Field teams were provided with routers to carry with them in the field so they could connect to internet as frequently as possible to sync their questionnaires and this ensured access to the data in real-time.

Data Cleaning The data cleaning process was done in two main stages. The first stage was to ensure proper quality control during the fieldwork. This was achieved in part by incorporating validation and consistency checks into the Survey Solutions application used for the data collection and designed to highlight many of the errors that occurred during the fieldwork.

The second stage of cleaning involved a comprehensive review of the final raw data following the first stage of cleaning. Every variable was examined individually for (1) consistency with other sections and variables, (2) out of range responses, and (3) formatting.

Estimates of how the coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted income and affordability in Great Britain. Data are from the Survey on Living Conditions (SLC).

Timor-Leste experienced a fundamental social and economic upheaval after its people voted for independence from Indonesia in a referendum in August 1999. Population was displaced, and public and private infrastructure was destroyed or rendered inoperable. Soon after the violence ceased, the country began rebuilding itself with the support from UN agencies, the international donor community and NGOs. The government laid out a National Development Plan (NDP) with two central goals: to promote rapid, equitable and sustainable economic growth and to reduce poverty. Formulating a national plan and poverty reduction strategy required data on poverty and living standards, and given the profound changes experienced, new data collection had to be undertaken to accurately assess the living conditions in the country. The Planning Commission of the Timor-Leste Transitional Authority undertook a Poverty Assessment Project along with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This project comprised three data collection activities on different aspects of living standards, which taken together, provide a comprehensive picture of well-being in Timor-Leste. The first component was the Suco Survey, which is a census of all 498 sucos (villages) in the country. It provides an inventory of existing social and physical infrastructure and of the economic characteristics of each suco, in addition to aldeia (hamlet) level population figures. It was carried out between February and April 2001. A second element was the Timor-Leste Living Standards Measurement Survey (TLSS). This is a household survey with a nationally representative sample of 1,800 families from 100 sucos. It was designed to diagnose the extent, nature and causes of poverty, and to analyze policy options facing the country. It assembles comprehensive information on household demographics, housing and assets, household expenditures and some components of income, agriculture, labor market data, basic health and education, subjective perceptions of poverty and social capital. Data collection was undertaken between end August and November 2001. The final component was the Participatory Potential Assessment (PPA), which is a qualitative community survey in 48 aldeias in the 13 districts of the country to take stock of their assets, skills and strengths, identify the main challenges and priorities, and formulate strategies for tackling these within their communities. It was completed between November 2001 and January 2002.

Abstract

The Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) is a multi-purpose household survey conducted to measure living conditions and poverty situation, and to help policymakers in monitoring and developing social programs.

LSMS has been carried out in Albania in the context of continuing monitoring of poverty and the creation of policy evaluation system in the framework of the National Strategy for Development and Integration (previously the National Strategy for Economic and Social Development).

The first Albania LSMS was conducted in 2002, followed by 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2012 surveys. In 2012, 6,671 households participated in the survey.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Households
• Individuals

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The survey includes a sample of 6,671 households that constitute the survey units. The sample is chosen randomly by two rounds of selection. The sample frame was provided from Population and Housing Census done on October 2011. In the first round, 834 Primary Selection Units (PSUs) have been chosen randomly to represent the whole territory of the country. Then, 8 households for each PSU were chosen to be interviewed in the second round through a procedure of systematic sample. To handle cases of non response or no contact other 4 households for each PSU were chosen as substitutes that ensured the target of 6,671 completed questionnaires near the households.

The methodology of the 2012 LSMS has been kept similar with the surveys conducted in the previous years. However, the geographic domains of analysis have been expanded to include the 12 individual prefectures of Albania, by urban and rural strata, compared to four geographic regions (Central, Coastal, Mountain and Tirana) by urban and rural strata defined previously as domains for the survey. This required a considerable increase in the sample size from 3,600 to 6,671 households making possible to calculate indicators of living standard for 24 strata and even for the four main areas of the country in order to compare the regional results to those from the 2002, 2005 and 2008 surveys and study the regional trends for various indicators.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaire was divided in two sections, and was administered to households in two visits, one section per visit. During the second visit the interviewer would also collect additional information of use for the eventual tracking of the household in the next waves of the panel.

The Booklet for Recording Daily Household Consumption was left with the household by the interviewer during the first visit for the household to compile, and collected during the second visit. Upon collection, interviewers took care of checking the entries (also with the help of a checklist provided at the end of the booklet) and correct them as appropriate with the help of the most knowledgeable person in the household.

A specific column was provided for the household to record the reference period for any purchases of food. The checklist was compiled by the interviewer, with the help of the most knowledgeable person in the household, upon collection of the diary. Interviewers were instructed to check, for 14 main food staples, whether any consumption of the item had been recorded in the diary. Whenever an item had not been recorded the interviewer would ask the respondent to report whether the item (a) had not been used in the 14-day period, or (b) had been consumed but the household had forgotten to record its consumption, or else (c) had been consumed by the household drawing on stocks purchased or produced outside the 14-day period. If the inclusion of an item had simply been forgotten the interviewer would then fill the appropriate section of the diary by asking the household to recall the details of that consumption. If the household reported consuming an item purchased before the beginning of the 14-day period, then information on the frequency of purchase, quantity, unit of measure and value of the purchase were recorded in the columns provided to this end in the checklist.

Abstract

The purpose of the Tajikistan LSS surveys has been to provide quantitative data at the individual, household and community level that will facilitate purposeful policy design on issues of welfare and living standards of the population of the Republic of Tajikistan. Since 2007, the studies have been done in collaboration with World Bank and UNICEF and implementation by Tajik National Committee for Statistics. The 2007 LSS survey is based on the 2003 LSS and 2005 MICS survey with additional questions and modules

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

Households

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

A detailed description of the sampling methodology is available in appendix to the document "Basic Information Document".

The Tajikistan LSS sample was designed to allow reliable estimation of poverty and most variables for a variety of other living standard indicators at the various domains of interest based on a representative probability sample on the level of: • Tajikistan as a whole
• Total urban and total rural areas • The five main administrative regions (oblasts) of the country: Dushanbe, Rayons of Republican Subordination (RRS), Sogd, Khatlon, and Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO)

The last census was conducted in 2000 and covered all five main administrative regions (oblasts) of the country (Dushanbe, RRS, Sogd, Khatlon, and GBAO). Each oblast was further subdivided into smaller areas called census section, instructor's sector and enumeration sector (ES). Each ES is either totally urban or rural. The list of ESs has census information on the population of each ES, and the ES lists were grouped by oblast.

In 2005, UNICEF implemented a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MIC-05) in Tajikistan during which an electronic database of the ES information was created. Information in this database included: oblast, rayon, jamoat, settlement type, city/village, ES code, and population. Information from this database was used in the sample design of the TLSS07.

The total number of clusters for the Tajikistan LSS 2007 was established as 270 and total number of households per cluster was established as 18, resulting in a sample size of 4,860. The sample size was determined by considering: • The reliability of the survey estimates on both regional and national level • Quality of the data collected for the survey • Cost in time for the data collection • An oversample in 7 rayons in Khatlon

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Cleaning operations

Data Entry and Cleaning

The data entry program was designed using CSPro, a data entry package developed by the US Census Bureau. This software allows programs to be developed to perform three types of data checks: (a) range checks; (b) intra-record checks to verify inconsistencies pertinent to the particular module of the questionnaire; and (c) inter-record checks to determine inconsistencies between the different modules of the questionnaire.

The data from the First Round were key entered at the Goskomstat headquarters in Dushanbe starting 4 October 2007 through 25 November 2007. The Second Round and Sughd data were key entered from 26 November 2007 through 12 December 2007. All of the data were double entered with both the First Round, Second Round and Sughd re-collection double entry being completed by 22 January 2008.

Data appraisal

The data cleaning process began in February 2008 and was completed at the end of May 2008.

How to Use the Data:

There are three separate data bases with the data from the TLSS07. The data from each data collection is maintained separately. The data sets have similar names in each of the three separate data collections. First Round data sets have names in the form of "r1mnp" where "n" is the number of the module, and "p" is the part of the module (if any). Data from the Subjective Poverty module would be stored as "r1m9" and data from the Migration module, Part C Family Members Living Away from the Household would be stored as "r1m2c". Second Round data set names have a similar form "r2mnp". Data sets from the Sughd collection replace the "m" of the First Round with "sm", such as sm12a1.

The variable names have a similar format. Each variable name includes the module in which the variable is found and the question number. For example, question 10 in Module 4 Health, Part B Utilization of Outpatient Health Care is "m4b_q10". The variable names in all three of the data collections have the same format.

In addition to the individual roster files for each data base, there is also one roster file for all three data bases, rosterall. This roster file contains the information on all of the households and household members who are included in the data. There is a variable (source) indicating if the household/member is: (a) in Round 1 only; (b) in Round 2 only; (c) in Round 1 and Round 2; or (d) in the Sughd data. It is important to pay attention to this variable as the recall periods for the Subjective Poverty and Food Security Module (9A) is the last 4 weeks in the First Round, but changed to the last 2 weeks in the Second Round and the Sughd collection. In addition, the order of the question in the Expenditure On Food In The Last 7 Days, Module 10, changed

Abstract

The Integrated Household Income and Expenditure Survey with Living Standards Measurement Survey 2002-2003 is one of the biggest national surveys carried out in accordance with an international methodology with technical and financial support from the World Bank and United Nations Development Programme.

Background This survey was developed in response to provide the picture of the current situation of poverty in Mongolia in relation to social and economic indicators and contribute toward implementation and progress on National Millennium Development Goals articulated in the National Millennium Development Report and monitoring of the Economic Growth Support and Poverty Reduction Strategy, as well as toward developing and designing future policies and actions. Also, the survey enriched the national database on poverty and contributed in improving the professional capacity of experts and professionals of the National Statistical Office of Mongolia.

Purpose Since the onset of the transition to a market economy of Mongolia our country the need to study changes in people's living standards in relation to household members' demographic situation, their education, health, employment and household engagement in private enterprises has become extremely important. With that purpose and with the support of the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, the National Statistical Office of Mongolia conducted the Integrated Household Income and Expenditure Survey with Living Standards Measurement Survey-like features between 2002 and 2003. In conjunction with LSMS household interviews the NSO also collected a price and a community questionnaire in each selected soum. The latter collected information on the quality of infrastructure, and basic education and health services.

Main importance of the survey is to provide policy makers and decision makers with realistic information about poverty and will become a resource for experts and researchers who are interested in studying poverty as well as social and economic issues of Mongolia.

In July 2003 the Government of Mongolia completed the Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper in which the Government gave high priority to the fight against poverty. As part of that commitment this paper is a study that intends to monitor poverty and understand its main causes in order to provide policy-makers with useful information to improve pro-poor policies.

Content The Integrated HIES with LSMS design has the peculiarity of being a sub-sample of a larger survey, namely the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2002. Instead of administering an independent consumption module, the Integrated HIES with LSMS 2002-2003 depends on the HIES 2002 information on household consumption expenditure. This is why the survey is referred as Integrated HIES with LSMS 2002-2003. This survey is the only source of information of income-poverty, and the questionnaire is designed to provide poverty estimates and a set of useful social indicators that can monitor more in general human development, as well as more specific issues on key sectors, such as health, education, and energy. And, the price and social survey, in conjunction with LSMS household interviews, collected information on the quality of infrastructure, and basic education and health services of each selected soum.

HIES - food expenditure and consumption, non-food expenditure, other expense, income LSMS - general information, household roster, housing, education, employment, health, fertility, migration, agriculture, livestock, non-farm enterprises, other souces of income, savings and loans, remittances, durable goods, energy PRICE SURVEY - prices of household consumer goods and services SOCIAL SURVEY - population and households, economy and infrastructure, education, health, agriculture and livestock, and non-agricultural business

Survey results The final report of this survey has main results on key poverty indicators, used internationally, as they relate to various social sectors. Its annexes contain information regarding the consumption structure, poverty lines along with the methodology used, as well as some statistical indicators.

The main contributions of this survey report are: - new poverty estimates based on the latest available household survey, the Integrated HIES with LSMS 2002-2003 - the implementation of appropriate, and internationally accepted, methodologies in the calculation of poverty and its analysis (these methodologies may constitute a reference for the analysis of future surveys) - a 'poverty profile' that describes the main characteristics of poverty

The first section of the report provides information on the Mongolian economic background, and presents the basic poverty measures that are linked to the economic performance to offer an indication of what happened to poverty and inequality in recent years. A second section goes in much more detail in generating and describing the poverty profile, in particular looking at the geographical distribution of poverty, poverty and its correlation with household demographic characteristics, characteristics of the household head, employment, and assets. A final section looks at poverty and social sectors and investigates various aspects of education, health and safety nets. The report contains also a number of useful, but more technical appendixes with information about the HIES-LSMS 2002-2003 (sample design and data quality), on the methodology used to construct the basic welfare indicator, and set the poverty line, some sensitivity analysis, and additional statistical information.

Geographic coverage

The survey is nationally representative and covers the whole of Mongolia.

Analysis unit

• Household (defined as a group of persons who usually live and eat together)
• Household member (defined as members of the household who usually live in the household, which may include people who did not sleep in the household the previous night, but does not include visitors who slept in the household the previous night but do not usually live in the household)
• Selected soums (for collecting prices of household consumer goods and services and information on quality of infrastructure, basic education, health services and so on)

Universe

The survey covered selected households and all members of the households (usual residents). And the price and social surveys covered all selected soums.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The Integrated HIES with LSMS 2002-2003 households are a subset of the household interviewed for the HIES 2002. One third of the HIES 2002 households were contacted again and interviewed on the LSMS topics. The subset was equally distributed among the four quarters.

The HIES 2002, and consequently the Integrated HIES with LSMS 2002-2003, used the 2000 Census as sample frame. 1,248 enumerations areas were part of the sample, which is a two-stage stratified random sample. The strata, or domains of estimation, are four: Ulaanbaatar, Aimag capitals and small towns, Soum centres, and Countryside. At a first stage a number of Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) were selected from each stratum. In the selected PSUs enumerators listed all the households residing in the area, and in a second stage households were randomly selected from the list of households identified in that PSU (10 households were selected in urban areas and 8 households in rural areas).

It should be noted that non-response case of households once selected for the survey exerts unfavorable influence on the representativeness of the survey. Therefore an enumerator should take every step to avoid that. To obtain true and timely survey results a proper agreement should be reached with a selected household before a survey starts. One of the main reasons of non-response is that an enumerator doesn't meet with the household members who are able to give the required information. An enumerator should visit a household at least 3 times within the given period to take the questionnaire.

Another common reason is that a household refuses to participate in the survey. In this case an enumerator should explain the purpose of the survey again, explain that the private data will be kept strictly confidential according to the corresponding law. If necessary an enumerator can ask local statistical division or local administration for the help. However this practice is very seldom.

If there is no possibility to take the questionnaires from the selected households due to weather conditions or disasters, reserved households with numbers 11, 12, 13 respectively from the list provided by the NSO should replace the omitted ones. However the reasons of replacements are to be declared in detail on the form.

Sampling deviation

At the planning stage the time lag between the HIES and LSMS interviews was expected to be relatively short. However, for various reasons it is on average of about 9 months, and for some households more than one year. Households interviewed in the first and second quarter of 2002 were generally re-interviewed in March and April 2003, while households of the third and fourth quarter of 2002 were re-interviewed in May, June and July of 2003. The considerable time lag between HIES and LSMS interviews was the main responsible for a considerable loss of households in the LSMS sample, households that could not be easily relocated and therefore re-interviewed. Due also to some incomplete questionnaires, the number of households that were used for the final poverty analysis is 3,308.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

A

Abstract

The study included four separate surveys:

1. The LSMS survey of general population of Serbia in 2002

2. The survey of Family Income Support (MOP in Serbian) recipients in 2002 These two datasets are published together separately from the 2003 datasets.

3. The LSMS survey of general population of Serbia in 2003 (panel survey)

4. The survey of Roma from Roma settlements in 2003 These two datasets are published together.

Objectives

LSMS represents multi-topical study of household living standard and is based on international experience in designing and conducting this type of research. The basic survey was carried out in 2002 on a representative sample of households in Serbia (without Kosovo and Metohija). Its goal was to establish a poverty profile according to the comprehensive data on welfare of households and to identify vulnerable groups. Also its aim was to assess the targeting of safety net programs by collecting detailed information from individuals on participation in specific government social programs. This study was used as the basic document in developing Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) in Serbia which was adopted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia in October 2003.

The survey was repeated in 2003 on a panel sample (the households which participated in 2002 survey were re-interviewed).

Analysis of the take-up and profile of the population in 2003 was the first step towards formulating the system of monitoring in the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS). The survey was conducted in accordance with the same methodological principles used in 2002 survey, with necessary changes referring only to the content of certain modules and the reduction in sample size. The aim of the repeated survey was to obtain panel data to enable monitoring of the change in the living standard within a period of one year, thus indicating whether there had been a decrease or increase in poverty in Serbia in the course of 2003. [Note: Panel data are the data obtained on the sample of households which participated in the both surveys. These data made possible tracking of living standard of the same persons in the period of one year.]

Along with these two comprehensive surveys, conducted on national and regional representative samples which were to give a picture of the general population, there were also two surveys with particular emphasis on vulnerable groups. In 2002, it was the survey of living standard of Family Income Support recipients with an aim to validate this state supported program of social welfare. In 2003 the survey of Roma from Roma settlements was conducted. Since all present experiences indicated that this was one of the most vulnerable groups on the territory of Serbia and Montenegro, but with no ample research of poverty of Roma population made, the aim of the survey was to compare poverty of this group with poverty of basic population and to establish which categories of Roma population were at the greatest risk of poverty in 2003. However, it is necessary to stress that the LSMS of the Roma population comprised potentially most imperilled Roma, while the Roma integrated in the main population were not included in this study.

Geographic coverage

The surveys were conducted on the whole territory of Serbia (without Kosovo and Metohija).

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sample frame for both surveys of general population (LSMS) in 2002 and 2003 consisted of all permanent residents of Serbia, without the population of Kosovo and Metohija, according to definition of permanently resident population contained in UN Recommendations for Population Censuses, which were applied in 2002 Census of Population in the Republic of Serbia. Therefore, permanent residents were all persons living in the territory Serbia longer than one year, with the exception of diplomatic and consular staff.

The sample frame for the survey of Family Income Support recipients included all current recipients of this program on the territory of Serbia based on the official list of recipients given by Ministry of Social affairs.

The definition of the Roma population from Roma settlements was faced with obstacles since precise data on the total number of Roma population in Serbia are not available. According to the last population Census from 2002 there were 108,000 Roma citizens, but the data from the Census are thought to significantly underestimate the total number of the Roma population. However, since no other more precise data were available, this number was taken as the basis for estimate on Roma population from Roma settlements. According to the 2002 Census, settlements with at least 7% of the total population who declared itself as belonging to Roma nationality were selected. A total of 83% or 90,000 self-declared Roma lived in the settlements that were defined in this way and this number was taken as the sample frame for Roma from Roma settlements.

Planned sample: In 2002 the planned size of the sample of general population included 6.500 households. The sample was both nationally and regionally representative (representative on each individual stratum). In 2003 the planned panel sample size was 3.000 households. In order to preserve the representative quality of the sample, we kept every other census block unit of the large sample realized in 2002. This way we kept the identical allocation by strata. In selected census block unit, the same households were interviewed as in the basic survey in 2002. The planned sample of Family Income Support recipients in 2002 and Roma from Roma settlements in 2003 was 500 households for each group.

Sample type: In both national surveys the implemented sample was a two-stage stratified sample. Units of the first stage were enumeration districts, and units of the second stage were the households. In the basic 2002 survey, enumeration districts were selected with probability proportional to number of households, so that the enumeration districts with bigger number of households have a higher probability of selection. In the repeated survey in 2003, first-stage units (census block units) were selected from the basic sample obtained in 2002 by including only even numbered census block units. In practice this meant that every second census block unit from the previous survey was included in the sample. In each selected enumeration district the same households interviewed in the previous round were included and interviewed. On finishing the survey in 2003 the cases were merged both on the level of households and members.

Stratification: Municipalities are stratified into the following six territorial strata: Vojvodina, Belgrade, Western Serbia, Central Serbia (Šumadija and Pomoravlje), Eastern Serbia and South-east Serbia. Primary units of selection are further stratified into enumeration districts which belong to urban type of settlements and enumeration districts which belong to rural type of settlement.

The sample of Family Income Support recipients represented the cases chosen randomly from the official list of recipients provided by Ministry of Social Affairs. The sample of Roma from Roma settlements was, as in the national survey, a two-staged stratified sample, but the units in the first stage were settlements where Roma population was represented in the percentage over 7%, and the units of the second stage were Roma households. Settlements are stratified in three territorial strata: Vojvodina, Beograd and Central Serbia.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

In all surveys the same questionnaire with minimal changes was used. It included different modules, topically separate areas which had an aim of perceiving the living standard of households from different angles. Topic areas were the following: 1. Roster with demography. 2. Housing conditions and durables module with information on the age of durables owned by a household with a special block focused on collecting information on energy billing, payments, and usage. 3. Diary of food expenditures (weekly), including home production, gifts and transfers in kind. 4. Questionnaire of main expenditure-based recall periods sufficient to enable construction of annual consumption at the household level, including home production, gifts and transfers in kind. 5. Agricultural production for all households which cultivate 10+ acres of land or who breed cattle. 6. Participation and social transfers module with detailed breakdown by programs 7. Labour Market module in line with a simplified version of the Labour Force Survey (LFS), with special additional questions to capture various informal sector activities, and providing information on earnings 8. Health with a focus on utilization of services and expenditures (including informal payments) 9. Education module, which incorporated pre-school, compulsory primary education, secondary education and university education. 10. Special income block, focusing on sources of income not covered in other parts (with a focus on remittances).

Response rate

During field work, interviewers kept a precise diary of interviews, recording both successful and unsuccessful visits. Particular attention was paid to reasons why some households were not interviewed. Separate marks were given for households which were not interviewed due to refusal and for cases when a given household could not be found on the territory of the chosen census block.

In 2002 a total of 7,491 households were contacted. Of this number a total of 6,386 households in 621 census rounds were interviewed. Interviewers did not manage to collect the data for 1,106 or 14.8% of selected households. Out of this number 634 households

Over the past decade, Albania has been undergoing a transition toward a market economy and a more open society. It has faced severe internal and external challenges, such as lack of basic infrastructure, rapid collapse of output and inflation rise after the collapse of the communist regime, turmoil during the 1997 pyramid crisis, and social and economic instability because of the 1999 Kosovo crisis. Despite these shocks, Albanian economy has recovered from a very low income level through a sustained growth during the past few years, even though it remains one of the poorest countries in Europe, with GDP per capita at around 1,300$. Based on the Living Standard Measurement Study (LSMS) 2002 survey data (wave 1, henceforth), for the first time in Albania INSTAT has computed an absolute poverty line on a nationally representative poverty survey at household level. Based on this welfare measure, one quarter (25.4 percent) of the Albanian population, or close to 790,000 individuals, were defined as poor in 2002. The distribution of poverty is also disproportionately rural, as 68 percent of the poor are in rural areas, against 32 percent in urban areas (as compared to a total urban population well over 40 percent). These estimates are quite sensitive to the choice of the poverty line, as there are a large number of households clustered around the poverty line. Income related poverty is compounded by the severe lack of access to basic infrastructure, education and health services, clean water, etc., and the ability of the Government to address these issues is complicated by high levels of internal and external migration that are not well understood. The availability of a nationally representative survey is crucial as the paucity of household-level information has been a constraining factor in the design, implementation and evaluation of economic and social programs in Albania. Two recent surveys carried out by the Albanian Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) –the 1998 Living Conditions Survey (LCS) and the 2000 Household Budget Survey (HBS)– drew attention, once again, to the need for accurately measuring household welfare according to well-accepted standards, and for monitoring these trends on a regular basis. This target is well-achieved by drawing information over time on a panel component of LSMS 2002 households, namely the Albanian Panel Survey (APS), conducted in 2003 and 2004. An increasing attention to the policies aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is paid by the National Parliament of Albania, recently witnessed by the resolution approved in July 2003, where it pushes “[...] the total commitment of both state structures and civil society to achieve the MDGs in Albania by 2015”. The path towards a sustained growth is constantly monitored through the National Reports on Progress toward Achieving the MDGs, which involves a close collaboration of the UN with the national institutions, led by the National Strategy for Social and Economic Development (NSSED) Department of the Ministry of Finance. Also, in the process leading to the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP; also known in Albania as Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy, GPRS), the Government of Albania reinforced its commitment to strengthening its own capacity to collect and analyze on a regular basis information it needs to inform policy-makers. In its first phase (2001-2006), this monitoring system will include the following data collection instruments: (i) Population and Housing Census; (ii) Living Standards Measurement Surveys every 3 years, and (iii) annual panel surveys. The focus during this first phase of the monitoring system is on a periodic LSMS (in 2002 and 2005), followed by panel surveys on a sub-sample of LSMS households (APS 2003, 2004 and 2006), drawing heavily on the 2001 census information. Here our target is to illustrate the main characteristics of the APS 2004 data with reference to the LSMS. The survey work was undertaken by the Living Standards Unit of INSTAT, with the technical assistance of the World Bank.

Abstract

Over the past decade, Albania has been seeking to develop the framework for a market economy and more open society. It has faced severe internal and external challenges in the interim - extremely low income levels and a lack of basic infrastructure, the rapid collapse of output and inflation rise after the shift in regime in 1991, the turmoil during the 1997 pyramid crisis, and the social and economic shocks accompanying the 1999 Kosovo crisis. In the face of these challenges, Albania has made notable progress in creating conditions conducive to growth and poverty reduction. A poverty profile based on 1996 data (the most recent available) showed that some 30 percent of the rural and some 15 percent of the urban population are poor, with many others vulnerable to poverty due to their incomes being close to the poverty threshold. Income related poverty is compounded by the severe lack of access to basic infrastructure, education and health services, clean water, etc., and the ability of the Government to address these issues is complicated by high levels of internal and external migration that are not well understood. To date, the paucity of household-level information has been a constraining factor in the design, implementation and evaluation of economic and social programs in Albania. Multi-purpose household surveys are one of the main sources of information to determine living conditions and measure the poverty situation of a country and provide an indispensable tool to assist policymakers in monitoring and targeting social programs. Two recent surveys carried out by the Albanian Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) - the 1998 Living Conditions Survey (LCS) and the 2000 Household Budget Survey (HBS) - drew attention, once again, to the need for accurately measuring household welfare according to well accepted standards, and for monitoring these trends on a regular basis. In spite of their narrow scope and limitations, these two surveys have provided the country with an invaluable training ground towards the development of a permanent household survey system to support the government strategic planning in its fight against poverty. In the process leading to its first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP; also known in Albania as Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy, GPRS), the Government of Albania reinforced its commitment to strengthening its own capacity to collect and analyse on a regular basis the information it needs to inform policy-making. In its first phase (2001-2006), this monitoring system will include the following data collection instruments:

(i) Population and Housing Census (ii) Living Standards Measurement Surveys every 3 years (iii) annual panel surveys.

The Population and Housing Census (PHC) conducted in April 2001, provided the country with a much needed updated sampling frame which is one of the building blocks for the household survey structure. The focus during this first phase of the monitoring system is on a periodic LSMS (in 2002 and 2005), followed by panel surveys on a sub-sample of LSMS households (in 2003, 2004 and 2006), drawing heavily on the 2001 census information. The possibility to include a panel component in the second LSMS will be considered at a later stage, based on the experience accumulated with the first panels. The 2002 LSMS was in the field between April and early July, with some field activities (the community and price questionnaires) extending into August and September. The survey work was undertaken by the Living Standards unit of INSTAT, with the technical assistance of the World Bank. The present document provides detailed information on this survey. Section II summarizes the content of the survey instruments used. Section III focuses on the details of the sample design. Sections IV describes the pilot test and fieldwork procedures of the survey, as well as the training received by survey staff. Section V reviews data entry and data cleaning issues. Finally, section VI contains a series of annotations that all those interested in using the data should read.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

Households

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

(a) SAMPLING FRAME

The Republic of Albania is divided geographically into 12 Prefectures (Prefekturat). The latter are divided into Districts (Rrethet) which are, in turn, divided into Cities (Qyteti) and Communes (Komunat). The Communes contain all the rural villages and the very small cities. For the April 2001 General Census of Population and Housing census purposes, the cities and the villages were divided into Enumeration Areas (EAs). These formed the basis for the LSMS sampling frame. The EAs in the frame are classified by Prefecture, District, City or Commune. The frame also contains, for every EA, the number of Housing Units (HUs), the number of occupied HUs, the number of unoccupied HUs, and the number of households. Occupied dwellings rather than total number of dwellings were used since many census EAs contain a large number of empty dwellings. The Housing Unit (defined as the space occupied by one household) was taken as the sampling unit, instead of the household, because the HU is more permanent and easier to identify in the field. A detailed review of the list of censuses EAs shows that many have zero population. In order to obtain EAs with a minimum of 50 and a maximum of 120 occupied housing units, the EAs with zero population were first removed from the sampling frame. Then, the smallest EAs (with less than 50 HU) were collapsed with geographically adjacent ones and the largest EAs (with more than 120 HU) were split into two or more EAs. Subsequently, maps identifying the boundaries of every split and collapsed EA were prepared Sample Size and Implementation Since the 2002 LSMS had been conducted about a year after the April 2001 census, a listing operation to update the sample EAs was not conducted. However, given the rapid speed at which new constructions and demolitions of buildings take place in the city of Tirana and its suburbs, a quick count of the 75 sample EAs was carried out followed by a listing operation. The listing sheets prepared during the listing operation became the sampling frame for the final stage of selection. The final sample design for the 2002 LSMS included 450 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) and 8 households in each PSU, for a total of 3600 households. Four reserve units were selected in each sample PSU to act as replacement unit in non-response cases. In a few cases in which the rate of migration was particularly high and more than four of the originally selected households could not be found for the interview, additional households for the same PSU were randomly selected. During the implementation of the survey there was a problem with the management of the questionnaires for a household that had initially refused, but later accepted, to fill in the food diary. The original household questionnaire was lost in the process and it was not possible to match the diary with a valid household questionnaire. The household had therefore to be dropped from the sample (this happened in Shkoder, PSU 16). The final sample size is therefore of 3599 households.

(b) STRATIFICATION

The sampling frame was divided in four regions (strata), Coastal Area, Central Area, and Mountain Area, and Tirana (urban and other urban). These four strata were further divided into major cities, other urban, and other rural. The EAs were selected proportionately to the number of housing units in these areas. In the city of Tirana and its suburbs, implicit stratification was used to improve the efficiency of the sample design. The implicit stratification was performed by ordering the EAs in the sampling frame in a geographic serpentine fashion within each stratum used for the independent selection of EAs.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Cleaning operations

(a) QUALITY CHECKS Besides the checks built-in in the DE program and those performed on the preliminary versions of the dataset as it was building up, and additional round of in depth checks on the household questionnaire and the food diary was performed in late September and early October in Tirana. Wherever possible data entry errors or inconsistencies in the dataset were spotted, the original questionnaires or diary were retrieved, and the information contained therein checked. Changes were made to the August version of the dataset as needed and the dataset was finalized in October.

(b) DATA ENTRY Data Entry Operations Data entry for all the survey instruments was performed using custom made applications developed in CS-Pro. Data entry for the household questionnaire was performed in a decentralized fashion in parallel with the enumeration, so as to allow for 'real-time' checking of the data collected. This allowed a further tier of quality control checks on the data. Where errors in the data were spotted during data entry, it was possible to instruct enumerators and supervisors to correct the information, if necessary, revisiting the household, when the teams were still in the field. A further round of checks was performed by the core team in Tirana and Bank staff in Washington as the data were gathered from the field and the entire dataset started building up. All but one of the 16 teams in the districts had one DEO, the Fier team had two, and there were four DEO's for Tirana. Each DEO worked with a laptop computer, and was given office space in the regional Statistics Offices, or in INSTAT headquarters for the Tirana teams. The DEO's received Part 1 of the household questionnaire from the supervisor once the supervisor had checked the enumerator's work, within two

Real household disposable income per person in the United Kingdom is expected to grow by *** percent in 2024/25, with disposable income growth slowing from that point onwards. In 2022/23, disposable income fell by *** percent, after falling by *** percent in 2021/22, and *** percent in 2020/21.

Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS 7), 2017

Survey based Harmonized Indicators (SHIP) files are harmonized data files from household surveys that are conducted by countries in Africa. To ensure the quality and transparency of the data, it is critical to document the procedures of compiling consumption aggregation and other indicators so that the results can be duplicated with ease. This process enables consistency and continuity that make temporal and cross-country comparisons consistent and more reliable. Four harmonized data files are prepared for each survey to generate a set of harmonized variables that have the same variable names. Invariably, in each survey, questions are asked in a slightly different way, which poses challenges on consistent definition of harmonized variables. The harmonized household survey data present the best available variables with harmonized definitions, but not identical variables. The four harmonized data files are a) Individual level file (Labor force indicators in a separate file): This file has information on basic characteristics of individuals such as age and sex, literacy, education, health, anthropometry and child survival. b) Labor force file: This file has information on labor force including employment/unemployment, earnings, sectors of employment, etc. c) Household level file: This file has information on household expenditure, household head characteristics (age and sex, level of education, employment), housing amenities, assets, and access to infrastructure and services. d) Household Expenditure file: This file has consumption/expenditure aggregates by consumption groups according to Purpose (COICOP) of Household Consumption of the UN.

Abstract

In 2001, the World Bank in co-operation with the Republika Srpska Institute of Statistics (RSIS), the Federal Institute of Statistics (FOS) and the Agency for Statistics of BiH (BHAS), carried out a Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS).

The Living Standard Measurement Survey LSMS, in addition to collecting the information necessary to obtain a comprehensive as possible measure of the basic dimensions of household living standards, has three basic objectives, as follows:

1. To provide the public sector, government, the business community, scientific institutions, international donor organizations and social organizations with information on different indicators of the population's living conditions, as well as on available resources for satisfying basic needs.

2. To provide information for the evaluation of the results of different forms of government policy and programs developed with the aim to improve the population's living standard. The survey will enable the analysis of the relations between and among different aspects of living standards (housing, consumption, education, health, labor) at a given time, as well as within a household.

3. To provide key contributions for development of government's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, based on analyzed data.

The Department for International Development, UK (DFID) contributed funding to the LSMS and provided funding for a further three years of data collection for a panel survey, known as the Household Survey Panel Series (HSPS) – and more popularly known as Living in BiH (LiBiH). Birks Sinclair & Associates Ltd. in cooperation with the Independent Bureau for Humanitarian Issues (IBHI) were responsible for the management of the HSPS with technical advice and support provided by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Essex, UK.

The panel survey provides longitudinal data through re-interviewing approximately half the LSMS respondents for three years following the LSMS, in the autumns of 2002 and 2003 and the winter of 2004. The LSMS constitutes Wave 1 of the panel survey so there are four years of panel data available for analysis. For the purposes of this documentation we are using the following convention to describe the different rounds of the panel survey: - Wave 1 LSMS conducted in 2001 forms the baseline survey for the panel - Wave 2 Second interview of 50% of LSMS respondents in Autumn/Winter 2002 - Wave 3 Third interview with sub-sample respondents in Autumn/Winter 2003 - Wave 4 Fourth interview with sub-sample respondents in Winter 2004

The panel data allows the analysis of key transitions and events over this period such as labour market or geographical mobility and observations on the consequent outcomes for the well-being of individuals and households in the survey. The panel data provides information on income and labour market dynamics within FBiH and RS. A key policy area is developing strategies for the reduction of poverty within FBiH and RS. The panel will provide information on the extent to which continuous poverty and movements in an out of poverty are experienced by different types of households and individuals over the four year period. Most importantly, the co-variates associated with moves into and out of poverty and the relative risks of poverty for different people can be assessed. As such, the panel aims to provide data, which will inform the policy debates within BiH at a time of social reform and rapid change.

In order to develop base line (2004) data on poverty, incomes and socio-economic conditions, and to begin to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the BiH MTDS, EPPU commissioned this modified fourth round of the LiBiH Panel Survey.

Geographic coverage

National coverage. Domains: Urban/rural/mixed; Federation; Republic

Analysis unit

Households

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The Wave 4 sample comprised of 2882 households interviewed at Wave 3 (1309 in the RS and 1573 in FBiH). As at previous waves, sample households could not be replaced with any other households.

Panel design

Eligibility for inclusion

The household and household membership definitions assume the same standard definitions used at Wave 3. While the sample membership, status and eligibility for interview are as follows: i) All members of households interviewed at Wave 3 have been designated as original sample members (OSMs). OSMs include children within households even if they are too young for interview, i.e. younger than 15 years. ii) Any new members joining a household containing at least one OSM, are eligible for inclusion and are designated as new sample members (NSMs). iii) At each wave, all OSMs and NSMs are eligible for inclusion, apart from those who move outof-scope (see discussion below). iv) All household members aged 15 or over are eligible for interview, including OSMs and NSMs.

Following rules The panel design provides that sample members who move from their previous wave address must be traced and followed to their new address for interview. In some cases the whole household will move together but in other cases an individual member may move away from their previous wave household and form a new "split-off" household of their own. All sample members, OSMs and NSMs, are followed at each wave and an interview attempted. This method has the benefits of maintaining the maximum number of respondents within the panel and being relatively straightforward to implement in the field.

Definition of 'out-of-scope'

It is important to maintain movers within the sample to maintain sample sizes and reduce attrition and also for substantive research on patterns of geographical mobility and migration. The rules for determining when a respondent is 'out-of-scope' are:

i. Movers out of the country altogether i.e. outside BiH This category of mover is clear. Sample members moving to another country outside BiH will be out-of-scope for that year of the survey and ineligible for interview.

ii. Movers between entities Respondents moving between entities are followed for interview. Personal details of "movers" are passed between the statistical institutes and an interviewer assigned in that entity.

iii. Movers into institutions Although institutional addresses were not included in the original LSMS sample, Wave 4 individuals who have subsequently moved into some institutions are followed. The definitions for which institutions are included are found in the Supervisor Instructions.

iv. Movers into the district of Brcko Are followed for interview. When coding, Brcko is treated as the entity from which the household moved.

Feed-forward

Details of the address at which respondents were found in the previous wave, together with a listing of household members found in each household at the last wave were fed-forward as the starting point for Wave 4 fieldwork. This "feed-forward" data also includes key variables required for correctly identifying individual sample members and includes the following: - For each household: Household ID (IDD); Full address details and phone number - For each Original Sample Member: Name; Person number (ID); unique personal identifier (LID); Sex; Date of birth

The sample details are held in an Access database and in order to ensure the confidentiality of respondents, personal details, names and addresses are held separately from the survey data collected during fieldwork. The IDD, LID and ID are the key linking variables between the two databases i.e. the name and address database and the survey database.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Cleaning operations

Dat entry

As at previous waves, CSPro was the chosen data entry software. The CSPro program consists of two main features intended to reduce the number of keying errors and to reduce the editing required following data entry: - Data entry screens that included all skip patterns. - Range checks for each question (allowing three exceptions for inappropriate, don't know and missing codes).

The Wave 4 data entry program had similar checks to the Wave 3 program - and DE staff were instructed to clear all anomalies with SIG fieldwork members. The program was tested prior to the commencement of data entry. Twelve data entry staff were employed in each Field Office, as all had worked on previous waves training was not undertaken.

Editing

Instructions for editing were provided in the Supervisors Instructions. At Wave 4 supervisors were asked to take more time to edit every questionnaire returned by their interviewers. The SIG Fieldwork Managers examined every Control Form.

Response rate

The level of cases that were unable to be traced is extremely low as are the whole household refusal or non-contact rates. In total, 9128 individuals (including children) were enumerated within the sample households at Wave 4, 5019 individuals in the FBiH and 4109 in the RS. Within in the 2875 eligible households, 7603 individuals aged 15 or over were eligible for interview with 7116 (93.6%) being successfully interviewed. Within co-operating households (where there was at least one interview) the interview rate was higher (98.6%).

A very important measure in longitudinal surveys is the annual individual re-interview rate as a high attrition rate, where large numbers of respondents drop out of the survey over time, can call into question the quality of the data collected. In BiH the individual re-interview rates have been high for the survey. The individual re-interview rate is the proportion of people who gave an interview at time t-1 who also give an interview at t. Of those who gave a full interview at wave 3, 6654 also gave a full

Abstract

The principal objective of the VNLSS is to collect basic data reflescting the actual living standard of the population. These data then be used for evaluating socio-economic development and formulationg policies to improve living standard. Followings are the main goals by the year of 2000. - Reduce the population growth rate less than 2 % peryear - Reduce the infant mortaility (under 5 years old) 0,81% (1990) to 0,55%; and from 0,46% (1990) to 0,3% (under one year old) - Reduce the mortality rate of women concerning the pregnancy and maternity - Reduce the malnutrition of children under 5years old from 51,5% at present to 40% in 1995 and under 30% by the year of 2000. Heavy malnutrition should not be existed by the year of 2000. - Population can access to safe water resources from 43% (1990) to 82% of which 40% to 80% in rural areas. Population use sanitary latrine from 22% (1990) to 65% of which in rural areas from 15% to 60% - 90 percent of children complete the endeavor universal first level education before the age of 15, and the rest should complete the third grade. By the year of 2000 no children at the age of 15 will be illiterate - Improve the cultural, spiritual life of the children, to ensure that 30% of communes (by the year of 1995) and 50% of communes (by the year of 2000) have entertaining place for children

The main information collected by the survey includes: - Household income and expenditures - Health and education - Employment and other productive and activities - Demographic characteristics and migration - Housing conditions

In addition, the information gatherd is intended to improve planning of economic and social policies in Vietnam and to assist in evaluating the impact of the policies. It should enable decision makers to: - indentify target groups for government assistance - Construct models of socio-economic development policies, both overall and on individuals groups - Analyze the impact of decisions available and of the current economic situation on living condition of household

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Households
• Individuals
• Community

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sample Design The sample covers 4800 households from all areas of Viet Nam. The sample design was self-weighted, which means that each household in Viet Nam had the same probability of being selected. The overall sampling frame was stratified into two groups urban and rural, with sampling was carried out separately in each group (strata). About 20% of Vietnamese households live in urban areas, so the sample stratification ensures that 20% of selected households also come from urban areas. Within urban and rural areas, two lists of all communes was drawn up (one of urban communes and another of rural ones), province by province, in "serpentine" order. 2 The selection of communes within each list was done to ensure that they were spread out evenly among all provinces in Viet Nam.

The VNLSS sample design is the following. Within each province in Viet Nam, rural areas can be broken down into districts, and districts in turn are divided into communes (Xa). Urban areas in all provinces consist of centers/towns, which are divided into quarters (Quai), and then divided further into communes (Phuong). The number of communes in all of Viet Nam, both urban and rural, is about 10,000, and the average population in each is about 6,500. As explained in Section 4, each survey team covers 32 households in 4 weeks, 16 households in one area, and 16 in another area. For convenience all 32 households (i.e. both sets of 16 household) were selected from the same commune. This implied that 150 communes needed to be randomly selected (32x150=4800), 30 in urban areas and 120 in urban areas. Within urban areas communes can be further divided into clusters (Cum), two of which were selected from which to draw two "workloads" of 16 households (16 from each of the two clusters). The same was done in rural areas, where each commune is divided into several villages (Thon). The average size of urban clusters and rural villages is somewhat less than 1000 households.

The VNLSS sample was drawn in three stages. Because the General Statistical Office in Hanoi knows the current population of each commune in Viet Nam (but not of each cluster or village within each commune), 150 communes were selected out of the 10,000 in all of Viet Nam with the probability of selection proportional to their population size. At the second stage, information was gathered from the 150 selected communes on the population of each cluster (in urban areas) or villages (in rural areas), and two clusters or villages were randomly drawn with probability proportional to their population size. Finally, the third stage involved random selection of 20 households (16 for the sample plus four "extras" to serve as replacements if some of the 16 "originals" could not be interviewed) within each cluster or village from a list of all households within each cluster or village. Note that the first stage of the sample is based on information from the 1989 Census, but the second and third stages use updated information available from the communes. The first and second stage samples were drawn in Hanoi, while the third stage was drawn in the field (see Section 4.3 below for more details).

Implementation

The attached map shows the commune number and approximate location of the 150 communes selected in Viet Nam. Of the 150 communes chosen, one was in a very remote and inaccessible area near the Chinese border and was replaced by another not quite as inaccessible. The actual interview schedule went smoothly. In one instance (commune 68) one of the selected villages was replaced because when the survey team arrived in the village it discovered that most of the adults were away from the village and thus could not be interviewed. In each cluster or village interviews were completed for 16 households, thus the 4800 household target sample was fully achieved. About 3% of the households (155) were replaced; the main reason for replacement was that their occupants were not at home. Only four households refused to participate. Community questionnaires were completed for all 120 rural communes. Price questionnaires were completed for 118 of 120 communes (the exceptions were communes 62 and 63), and comparable price data were collected from existing sources for all 30 urban areas.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

HOUSEHOLD QUESTIONNAIRE

The household questionnaire contains modules (sections) to collect data on household demographic structure, education, health, employment, migration, housing conditions, fertility, agricultural activities, household non-agricultural businesses, food expenditures, non-food expenditures, remittances and other income sources, savings and loans, and anthropometric (height and weight) measures.

For some sections (survey information, housing, and respondents for second round) the individual designated by the household members as the household head provided responses. For some others (agro-pastoral activities, non-farm self employment, food expenditures, non-food expenditures) a member identified as most knowledgeable provided responses. Identification codes for respondents of different sections indicate who provided the information. In sections where the information collected pertains to individuals (education, health, employment, migration, and fertility) each member of the household was asked to respond for himself or herself, except that parents were allowed to respond for younger children. In the case of the employment and fertility sections it is possible that the information was not provided by the relevant person; variables in these sections indicate when this is the case. The household questionnaire was completed in two interviews two weeks apart: Sections 0-8, were conducted in the first interview, sections 9-14 were conducted in the second interview, and section 15 was administered in both interviews. The survey was designed so that more sensitive issues such as credit and savings were discussed near the end. The content of each module is briefly described below.

I. FIRST INTERVIEW

Section 0 SURVEY INFORMATION 0A HOUSEHOLD HEAD AND RESPONDENT INFORMATION 0B SUMMARY OF SURVEY RESULTS 0C OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS

The date of the interview, the religion, ethnic group of the household head, the language used by the respondent and other technical information related to the interview are noted. Section 0B summarizes the results of the survey visits, i.e. whether a section was completed on the first visit or the second visit. Section 0C, not entered into the computer, contains remarks of the interviewer and the supervisor. Since the data in Section 0C are retained only on the questionnaires, researchers cannot gain access to them without checking the original questionnaires at the General Statistical Office in Hanoi.

Section 1 HOUSEHOLD MEMBERSHIP 1A HOUSEHOLD ROSTER 1B INFORMATION ON PARENTS OF HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS 1C CHILDREN RESIDING ELSEWHERE

The roster in Section 1A lists the age, sex, marital status and relation to household head of all people who spent the previous night in that household and for household members who are temporarily away from home. The household head is listed first and receives the personal id code 1. Household members were defined to include "all the people who normally live and eat their meals together in this dwelling. Those who were absent more than nine of the last twelve months were excluded, except for the head of the household and infants less than three months old. A lunar calendar is provided in the

The Nepal Living Standards Survey, 1995/96 (NLSS-I) was a milestone in the collection of data for the objective measurement of the living standards of the people and for determining the level of poverty in the country. The survey covered a wide range of topics related to “household welfare” (demography, consumption, income, access to facilities, housing, education, health, employment, credit, remittances and anthropometry, etc.). NLSS-I for the first time, provided a measure of “extent and dimension” of poverty in Nepal. The survey findings became popular among decision makers in the government agencies, the general public and the international agencies as well. It was realized that a second round of the survey was needed to update the results and to assess the impact of policies and programs on poverty and social indicators over the years (since the NLSS-I was conducted). Accordingly, the second round of the survey (NLSS-II) was carried out in 2003/04 after 8 years of the first survey. The findings of the NLSS-II helped the government to monitor progress in improving national living standards and the survey became a good basis for monitoring the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) over time. Realizing the importance of time series data, the Government of Nepal decided to conduct another round of the Nepal Living Standards Survey. Accordingly, the Central Bureau of Statistics for the third time conducted the survey in 2010/11 (NLSS-III). The survey was carried out with the assistance from the World Bank. Objective of the Survey The main objective of the NLSS-III is to update data on the living standards of the people. The survey aims to assess the impact of various government policies and programs on the socioeconomic changes in the country during the last 7 years. Further, the survey aims to track changes experienced by previously enumerated households during the past fifteen and seven years.

Abstract

Niger is part of the Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) program. This program has developed a household level survey with a view to enhancing our knowledge of agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, its role in poverty reduction and the techniques for promoting efficiency and innovation in this sector. To achieve this objective, an innovative model for agricultural data collection in this region will need to be developed and implemented. To this end, activities conducted in the future will be supported by four main pillars: a multisectoral framework, institutional integration, analytical capacity building, and active dissemination.

First, agricultural statistical data collection must be part of an expanded and multisectoral framework that goes beyond the rural area. This will facilitate generation of the data needed to formulate effective agricultural policies throughout Niger and in the broader framework of the rural economy.

Second, agricultural statistical data collection must be supported by a well-adapted institutional framework suited to fostering collaboration and the integration of data sources. By supporting a multi-pronged approach to data collection, this project seeks to foster intersectoral collaboration and overcome a number of the current institutional constraints.

Third, national capacity building needs to be strengthened in order to enhance the reliability of the data produced and strengthen the link between the producers and users of data. This entails having the capacity to analyze data and to produce appropriate public data sets in a timely manner. The lack of analytical expertise in developing countries perpetuates weak demand for statistical data.

Consequently, the foregoing has a negative impact on the quality and availability of policy-related analyses. Scant dissemination of statistics and available results has compounded this problem.

In all countries where the LSMS-ISA project will be executed, the process envisioned for data collection will be a national household survey, based on models of LSMS surveys to be conducted every three years for a panel of households. The sampling method to be adopted should ensure the quality of the data, taking into account the depth/complexity of the questionnaire and panel size, while ensuring that samples are representative.

The main objectives of the ECVMA are to:

• Gauge the progress made with achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs);
• Facilitate the updating of the social indicators used in formulating the policies aimed at improving the living conditions of the population;
• Provide data related to several areas that are important to Niger without conducting specific surveys on individual topics ;
• Provide data on several important areas for Niger that are not necessarily collected in other more specific surveys.

Geographic coverage

National Coverage

Analysis unit

Households

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face paper [f2f]

Cleaning operations

The data entry was done in the field simultaneously with the data collection. Each data collection team included a data entry operator who key entered the data soon after it was collected. The data entry program was designed in CSPro, a data entry package developed by the US Census Bureau. This program allows three types of data checks: (1) range checks; (2) intra-record checks to verify inconsistencies pertinent to the particular module of the questionnaire; and (3) inter-record checks to determine inconsistencies between the different modules of the questionnaire.

The data as distributed represent the best effort to provide complete information. The data were collected and cleaned prior to the construction of the consumption aggregate. Using the same guidelines as were used in 2011, the households that are provided in the data set should have consumption data for both visits. This may not be the case. During the cleaning process, it was found that households had been misidentified which allowed more households to be included in the final consumption aggregate file (see below). The raw data that contains household/item level data that was used to calculate the consumption aggregate has been included in the distribution file.There are 3,614 households and 26,579 individuals in the data.

How widely are the benefits of economic growth shared in advanced societies? Do the rich capture the gains of growth, with little or no improvement in the living standards of the middle? Is growth raising the incomes of the poor so that they keep pace with the middle, or is the gap between rich and poor closing? Addressing these questions requires careful analysis of both the growth and distributional aspects of incomes. This article looks at the growth of disposable incomes – incomes after the redistribution through the state – over time. We rely on the Incomes across the Distribution Database put together by researchers Brian Nolan, Stefan Thewissen, and Max Roser. This data set is directly available for download: Data and data description.

The data source for our database is the microdata published by the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Database. You can also access our database via the website of the LIS: Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.

Changing living standards

Abstract

A data set containing the four waves of Bosnia and Herzegovina panel data has been created by World Bank researchers with financing from the World Bank Europe and Central Asia, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management unit. This data set was used in the writing of "Entrepreneurship in Post-Conflict Transition: The Role of Informality and Access to Finance" by Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Leora Klapper, and Georgios A. Panos. Users may download and use this data set.

The data set contains information on the 37,123 individuals who appear in the four waves of the panel data set. Not all individuals appear in all four waves.

The requirement for using the data set is that users must cite the paper and authors as the source of the data set.

The data set and documentation are provided on the understanding that the descriptions given in the documents and the programs files are the only documentation that will be provided.

Geographic coverage

National coverage.

Domains: Urban/rural/mixed; Federation; Republic

Analysis unit

Household and Individual

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample information from the Bosnia and Herzegovina 2001 through 2004 Living Standards Measurement Surveys should be viewed for additional information.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaires are those used in the 2001 to 2004 Bosnia and Herzegovina Living Standards Measurement Surveys.