Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Lilongwe, Malawi metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Abstract

The Integrated Household Survey is one of the primary instruments implemented by the Government of Malawi through the National Statistical Office (NSO) roughly every 3-5 years to monitor and evaluate the changing conditions of Malawian households. The IHS data have, among other insights, provided benchmark poverty and vulnerability indicators to foster evidence-based policy formulation and monitor the progress of meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the goals listed as part of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) and now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

• Households
• Individuals
• Consumption expenditure commodities/items
• Communities
• Agricultural household/ Holder/ Crop
• Market

Universe

Members of the following households are not eligible for inclusion in the survey: • All people who live outside the selected EAs, whether in urban or rural areas. • All residents of dwellings other than private dwellings, such as prisons, hospitals and army barracks. • Members of the Malawian armed forces who reside within a military base. (If such individuals reside in private dwellings off the base, however, they should be included among the households eligible for random selection for the survey.) • Non-Malawian diplomats, diplomatic staff, and members of their households. (However, note that non-Malawian residents who are not diplomats or diplomatic staff and are resident in private dwellings are eligible for inclusion in the survey. The survey is not restricted to Malawian citizens alone.) • Non-Malawian tourists and others on vacation in Malawi.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The IHS5 sampling frame is based on the listing information and cartography from the 2018 Malawi Population and Housing Census (PHC); includes the three major regions of Malawi, namely North, Center and South; and is stratified into rural and urban strata. The urban strata include the four major urban areas: Lilongwe City, Blantyre City, Mzuzu City, and the Municipality of Zomba. All other areas are considered as rural areas, and each of the 27 districts were considered as a separate sub-stratum as part of the main rural stratum. The sampling frame further excludes the population living in institutions, such as hospitals, prisons and military barracks. Hence, the IHS5 strata are composed of 32 districts in Malawi.

A stratified two-stage sample design was used for the IHS5.

Note: Detailed sample design information is presented in the "Fifth Integrated Household Survey 2019-2020, Basic Information Document" document.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

HOUSEHOLD QUESTIONNAIRE The Household Questionnaire is a multi-topic survey instrument and is near-identical to the content and organization of the IHS3 and IHS4 questionnaires. It encompasses economic activities, demographics, welfare and other sectoral information of households. It covers a wide range of topics, dealing with the dynamics of poverty (consumption, cash and non-cash income, savings, assets, food security, health and education, vulnerability and social protection). Although the IHS5 household questionnaire covers a wide variety of topics in detail it intentionally excludes in-depth information on topics covered in other surveys that are part of the NSO’s statistical plan (such as maternal and child health issues covered at length in the Malawi Demographic and Health Survey).

AGRICULTURE QUESTIONNAIRE All IHS5 households that are identified as being involved in agricultural or livestock activities were administered the agriculture questionnaire, which is primarily modelled after the IHS3 counterpart. The modules are expanding on the agricultural content of the IHS4, IHS3, IHS2, AISS, and other regional agricultural surveys, while remaining consistent with the NACAL topical coverage and methodology. The development of the agriculture questionnaire was done with input from the aforementioned stakeholders who provided input on the household questionnaire as well as outside researchers involved in research and policy discussions pertaining to the Malawian agriculture. The agriculture questionnaire allows, among other things, for extensive agricultural productivity analysis through the diligent estimation of land areas, both owned and cultivated, labor and non-labor input use and expenditures, and production figures for main crops, and livestock. Although one of the major foci of the agriculture data collection effort was to produce smallholder production estimates for major crops, it is also possible to disaggregate the data by gender and main geographical regions. The IHS5 cross-sectional households supply information on the last completed rainy season (2017/2018 or 2018/2019) and the last completed dry season (2018 or 2019) depending on the timing of their interview.

FISHERIES QUESTIONNAIRE The design of the IHS5 fishery questionnaire is identical to the questionnaire designed for IHS3. The IHS3 fisheries questionnaire was informed by the design and piloting of a fishery questionnaire by the World Fish Center (WFC), which was supported by the LSMS-ISA project for the purpose of assembling a fishery questionnaire that could be integrated into multi-topic household-surveys. The WFC piloted the draft instrument in November 2009 in the Lower Shire region, and the NSO team considered the revised draft in designing the IHS5 fishery questionnaire.

COMMUNITY QUESTIONNAIRE The content of the IHS5 Community Questionnaire follows the content of the IHS3 & IHS4 Community Questionnaires. A “community” is defined as the village or urban location surrounding the enumeration area selected for inclusion in the sample and which most residents recognize as being their community. The IHS5 community questionnaire was administered to each community associated with the cross-sectional EAs interviewed. Identical to the IHS3 and IHS4 approach, to a group of several knowledgeable residents such as the village headman, the headmaster of the local school, the agricultural field assistant, religious leaders, local merchants, health workers and long-term knowledgeable residents. The instrument gathers information on a range of community characteristics, including religious and ethnic background, physical infrastructure, access to public services, economic activities, communal resource management, organization and governance, investment projects, and local retail price information for essential goods and services.

MARKET QUESTIONNAIRE The Market Survey consisted of one questionnaire which is composed of four modules. Module A: Market Identification, Module B: Seasonal Main Crops, Module C: Permanents Crops, and Module D: Food Consumption.

Cleaning operations

DATA ENTRY PLATFORM To ensure data quality and timely availability of data, the IHS5 was implemented using the World Bank’s Survey Solutions CAPI software. To carry out IHS5, 1 laptop computer and a wireless internet router were assigned to each team supervisor, and each enumerator had an 8–inch GPS-enabled Lenovo tablet computer. The use of Survey Solutions allowed for the real-time availability of data as the completed data was completed, approved by the Supervisor and synced to the Headquarters server as frequently as possible. While administering the first module of the questionnaire the enumerator(s) also used their tablets to record the GPS coordinates of the dwelling units. In Survey Solutions, Headquarters can then see the location of the dwellings plotted on a map of Malawi to better enable supervision from afar – checking both the number of interviews performed and the fact that the sample households lie within EA boundaries. Geo-referenced household locations from that tablet complemented the GPS measurements taken by the Garmin eTrex 30 handheld devices and these were linked with publically available geospatial databases to enable the inclusion of a number of geospatial variables - extensive measures of distance (i.e. distance to the nearest market), climatology, soil and terrain, and other environmental factors - in the analysis.

The range and consistency checks built into the application was informed by the LSMS-ISA experience in previous IHS waves. Prior programming of the data entry application allowed for a wide variety of range and consistency checks to be conducted and reported and potential issues investigated and corrected before closing the assigned enumeration area. Headquarters (NSO management) assigned work to supervisors based on their regions of coverage. Supervisors then made assignments to the enumerators linked to their Supervisor account. The work assignments and syncing of completed interviews took place through a Wi-Fi connection to the IHS5 server. Because the data was available in real time it was monitored closely throughout the entire data collection period and upon receipt of the data at headquarters, data was exported to STATA for other consistency checks, data cleaning, and analysis.

DATA MANAGEMENT The IHS5 Survey Solutions CAPI based data entry application was designed to stream-line the data collection process from the field. IHS5 Interviews were collected in “sample” mode (assignments generated from headquarters) as opposed to “census” mode (new interviews created by interviewers from a template) for the NSO to have more control over the sample.

The range and consistency checks built into the application was informed by the LSMS-ISA experience in previous IHS waves. Prior programming of the data

15,64,527 (persons) in 2018.

1 232 972 (persons) в 2008.

Demographic Information for Children Enrolled into P1068s from Lilongwe, Malawi.

Urban green space per capita distribution in the neighbourhoods/areas in Lilongwe City (Note: Two areas were not included due to the lack of population data).

Socio-demographic characteristics of caretakers in Lilongwe, Mangochi and total.

The household survey INHAbIT Cities - UNHIDE (Investigating Natural, Historical and Institutional Transformations in Cities and Uncovering Hidden Dynamics in Slum Environments) focuses on urban risks and sanitation in Lilongwe. The aim was to assess access to basic services and risks perception of urban dwellers living in areas characterised by different conditions of access to water and sanitation and other basic services. Lilongwe was a small town of less than 20,000 inhabitants in 1966 and only started growing after it became the capital in 1975. Its population has reached approximately 1 million inhabitants, living in 58 administrative units, called areas. Infrastructures and service provision is concentrated in the central areas – where parliament, ministries, government offices, embassies, hotels and the commercial area were located - while low income areas suffer the most from infrastructure and basic services deficits. To illustrate, while some areas access water through in-house connections, others are served through water kiosks, characterised (in some areas) by high rates of discontinuity. Similarly, everyday risks are unevenly distributed across urban spaces: as shown in the survey perception of risks varies drastically from neighbourhood to neighbourhood and depending on the quality and availability of services provided. Data for this survey were collected between February and April 2015 by a team of local researchers, who administered the questionnaire in local language.

Publications linked to this survey are:

Rusca M., Alda Vidal C., Hordijk M., Kral N., (2017) Bathing without water, and other stories of everyday hygiene practices and risk perception in urban low-income areas: the case of Lilongwe, Malawi, Environment and Urbanisation Vol 29, Issue 2, pp. 533 – 550.

Tiwale S., Rusca M., Zwarteveen M., The power of pipes: mapping urban water inequities through the material properties of networked water infrastructures. The case of Lilongwe, Malawi, Water Alternatives, Water Alternatives 11(2): 314-335.

Rusca M. (2018): Visualising urban inequalities: the ethics of videography and documentary filmmaking in water research, Wires Water, https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1292

Abstract

This survey was conducted in the scope of the Global Fund Five-Year Evaluation.

Purpose (1) To provide population-based data on knowledge of TB and HIV/AIDS; sexual behavior; utilization of services related to HIV testing and maternal and child health; and coverage of IRS and bednets (2) To provide basic information on health expenditure

Objective To provide data to evaluate the following areas: -Resource tracking [Inputs] -Access/coverage/use of services [Outcomes] -Public health impact [Impact] -Health system strengthening [Impact]

Content Types of indicators: - household level demographic and socio-economic indicators such as education, wealth assets, residence - HIV- Knowledge and Behavior, Prevention, Counseling and Testing, PMTCT - Tuberculosis- Knowledge and Behavior - Malaria - ITN, IRS, IPTp, Prompt and effective treatment - Health system effects - Financing

Geographic coverage

National - at district level

Analysis unit

• Households
• Children under 5 years
• Women

Universe

The survey covered all de jure household members (usual residents) in the selected households of the selected enumeration areas in the eight sampled districts , all women aged 15-49 years resident in the household, and all children aged 0-59 months (under age 5) resident in the selected household.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

6625 households were selected from 8 districts and 30 clusters, 25 households per district.

Selection process: 8 districts were purposefully selected based on geographic criteria (one per region), and urban/rural to reflect national urban/rural mix.

Stratification: stratified by district

Stages of sample selection: purposeful selection of 8 districts, clusters selected PPS (probability proportional to size), households in clusters were sampled systematically after household listing was updated.

Design omissions: In 'City district of Lilongwe', the city and rural were separated as two districts. In the city 25 clusters were sampled with 25 households selected in each cluster. In Lilongwe rural 30 clusters were sampled with 25 households in each cluster. That is essentially we had 9 districts.

Level of representation: district level

Strategy for absent respondents: no replacement

Sample frame: Original sample frame of clusters is based on the 1998 Malawi Population and Housing Census; household listing in selected clusters prior to systematically selecting the households.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Questionnaire modules were based on the standard DHS, including a HH and a woman questionnaire. - Household modules include: Household listing of members and demographic information, Household members, Bednets, Health expenditures and Deaths in the household. - Woman modules include: Respondent's background, Birth history, Antenatal and delivery care, Immunization, Diarrhea, Fever and malaria, Tuberculosis, Marriage and sexual activity, and HIV/AIDS.

Cleaning operations

Data editing took place at a number of stages throughout the processing, including: a) Office editing and coding, verification of completed questionnaires b) During data entry (scanned questionnaires also pass through verification process) c) Structure checking and completeness out files in SPSS format

Response rate

Household response rate 94% and woman response rate 94%.

Data appraisal

• Frequency checks and data cleaning during data colletion, and final data cleaning

Abstract

The principal focus of the survey is the welfare level of Malawian individuals and households. The survey data analyses will assist in determining what proportion of Malawians are unable to meet their basic needs to enjoy an adequate standard of living and are living in poverty. These studies will also consider what accounts for some households being able to attain and sustain such a standard of living and what might be done to assist those households and individuals now living in poverty to escape poverty. The information collected in the IHS will also be used in a range of other studies, including examining employment, health, nutritional status, agriculture, as well as better understanding how households respond to changes in the macroeconomic environment. The data collected using the IHS is particularly rich because it integrates a wide range of aspects of household and individual characteristics.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Households
• Individuals
• Communities

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample design for the IHS-2 is different from the sample design in IHS-1. In both surveys, the sample was designed to provide district estimates of welfare indicators. Because a census had been done in 1998 after the IHS-1, it was possible to have an updated sample frame for the sample design used in the IHS-2. The sample for IHS-2 was drawn using a two-stage stratified sampling procedure from a sample frame using the 1998 Population Census Enumeration Areas (EAs). The population covered by the IHS-2 was all individuals living in selected households.

The sample frame includes all three regions of Malawi: north, centre and south. The IHS-2 stratified the country into rural and urban strata. The urban strata include the four major urban areas: Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mzuzu, and the Municipality of Zomba. All other areas including Bomas2 are considered as rural areas. The total sample was 11,280 households (564 EAs x 20 households). Information on sampling errors for consumption from the IHS1 (October 1997 - September 1998) was used to help determine the minimum sample size in each domain. These domains were further divided into a number of smaller strata based on the administrative system in the country. Each of the twenty-seven districts was considered as a separate sub-stratum of the main rural stratum (for IHS-2, Likoma District was excluded because of difficulty in travel to the island, so only twenty-six administrative districts were considered). Thus the total number of strata in the survey was thirty: twenty-six districts and four urban centers.

Additional information on sampling is provided under technical documents in external resources.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The IHS-2 survey used two questionnaires to collect the information: a household questionnaire and a community questionnaire, as was the case for the 1997-98 ISH-1. Both the household and community questionnaires were significantly revised for the IHS-2. The IHS-2 household questionnaire maintained comparisons with the earlier IHS-1 household questionnaire wherever possible. However, the IHS-2 questionnaire is longer and more detailed. In addition, new modules were added.

There were five modules included in the 2004-05 questionnaire that did not appear in the 1997-98 questionnaire. These included Security and Safety, Social Safety Nets, Credit, Subjective Assessment of Well-being, and Recent Shocks to the Household. In addition there were seven agricultural modules that collected more detailed information on the agricultural situation in households than was collected in IHS-1.

Unlike in the 1997-98 survey, the monthly diary of expenditure was not used in the IHS-2 because of the problems encountered in the proper filling out of this module in 1997-98. The diary was replaced with 5 modules that were administered by the Enumerator: Module H Consumption of Selected Food over the Past Three Days, Module I on Food Expenditure with a recall period of the past week, Module J Non-Food Expenditure with a recall period of the past week and one month, Module K Non-Food Expenditures with a recall period of the past three months, and Module L Non-Food Expenditures with a recall period of the past 12 months. Different items are included in each module depending on the frequency of purchase. Module H Consumption of Selected Food over the Past Three Days, was created to provide comparability to the data collected in the in 1997-98. Anthropometric information was collected from every child aged between 6-59 months in both surveys. The information collected in IHS-2 included a measure of the presence of OEDEMA in addition to weight in kilograms, and height (or length) in centimeters.

The IHS-2 Community Questionnaire was designed to collect information that is common to all households in a given area. During the survey a “community” was defined as the village or urban location surrounding the enumeration area selected for inclusion in the sample and which most residents recognise as being their community. The questionnaire was administered to a group of several knowledgeable residents such as the village headman, headmaster of the local school, agricultural field assistant, religious leaders, local merchants, health workers and long-term knowledgeable residents. Information collected included basic physical and demographic characteristics of the community; access to basic services; economic activities; agriculture; how conditions have changed over the last five years; and prices for 47 common food items, non-food items, and ganyu labor.

44.5 (Per 1000 population) in 2018.

Abstract

The WMS 2005 is a follow-up of the Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire Survey (CWIQ) that was undertaken by the NSO in 2002. Unlike the CWIQ, which was basically a World Bank instrument, the WMS has been adapted to suit local requirements. The objective of the WMS is to provide rapid information on selected core indicators in the population including monitoring changes on a yearly basis.

More specifically, the objectives of the WMS are to provide: - Indicators for monitoring the living conditions of people in the country - Indicators for monitoring the attainment of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), Malawian Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) and other development programmes like the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - A regular database for socio-economic research

The WMS is part of the Integrated Household Survey programme being implemented by the NSO. The programme includes the conduct of a comprehensive integrated household survey every five years and a lighter annual welfare monitoring survey between the five years. The sample of households covered in the WMS is therefore drawn from the larger sample of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS).

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Households
• Individuals
• Children under 5 years

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sample Design The WMS sample is a subset of the sample that was selected for the second 2004/05 Integrated Household Survey (IHS2). The sample for IHS2 was drawn using a two-stage stratified sampling procedure from a sample frame using the 1998 Population Census enumeration areas (EAs), and the total sample size was 11,280 households (564 EAs x 20 households).

Financial constraints led to a reduced sample size for WMS compared to IHS2. Since the sample for WMS was a subsample of the IHS2 sample, its design properties are basically equal: It was a two-stage stratified sample as follows: -

First Stage: As in IHS2 there were 4 urban strata: Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mzuzu cities and Zomba Municipality, and 26 rural strata, the latter corresponding to the administrative districts in Malawi with the exception of Likoma Island. From each stratum 10 EAs were randomly selected with probability proportional to size among the EAs in IHS2, ranging from 12 EAs in small strata to 48 EAs in large strata.

Second Stage: In each of the 300 EAs selected at the first stage, 2 out of the 20 households from IHS2 were discarded at random and used for replacement. Hence a total number of 300 x 18 = 5,400 households were identified for the WMS sample.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Response rate

The response rate is defined as a ratio that shows the number of households interviewed over the total sampled households. The 2005 WMS results show that out of the 5,400 households sampled, 5,234 were enumerated, giving an overall response rate of 97 percent.

Note: Detailed information on response rate in the various regions as well as in urban and rural areas are given in Table 1.1, refer 2005 Malawi Welfare Monitoring Survey report.

Abstract

The Integrated Household Survey is one of the primary instruments implemented by the Government of Malawi through the National Statistical Office (NSO) roughly every 5 years to monitor and evaluate the changing conditions of Malawian households. The IHS data have, among other insights, provided benchmark poverty and vulnerability indicators to foster evidence-based policy formulation and monitor the progress of meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the goals listed as part of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) and now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Households
• Individuals
• Children under 5 years
• Consumption expenditure commodities/items
• Communities
• Agricultural household/ Holder/ Crop

Universe

Members of the following households are not eligible for inclusion in the survey: • All people who live outside the selected EAs, whether in urban or rural areas. • All residents of dwellings other than private dwellings, such as prisons, hospitals and army barracks. • Members of the Malawian armed forces who reside within a military base. (If such individuals reside in private dwellings off the base, however, they should be included among the households eligible for random selection for the survey.) • Non-Malawian diplomats, diplomatic staff, and members of their households. (However, note that non-Malawian residents who are not diplomats or diplomatic staff and are resident in private dwellings are eligible for inclusion in the survey. The survey is not restricted to Malawian citizens alone.) • Non-Malawian tourists and others on vacation in Malawi.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The IHS4 sampling frame is based on the listing information and cartography from the 2008 Malawi Population and Housing Census (PHC); includes the three major regions of Malawi, namely North, Center and South; and is stratified into rural and urban strata. The urban strata include the four major urban areas: Lilongwe City, Blantyre City, Mzuzu City, and the Municipality of Zomba. All other areas are considered as rural areas, and each of the 27 districts were considered as a separate sub-stratum as part of the main rural stratum. This is the first round of the survey to include the island district of Likoma in the sampling frame. The sampling frame further excludes the population living in institutions, such as hospitals, prisons and military barracks. Hence, the IHS4 strata are composed of 32 districts in Malawi.

A stratified two-stage sample design was used for the IHS4.

Note: Detailed sample design information is presented in the "Fourth Integrated Household Survey 2016-2017, Basic Information Document" document.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

HOUSEHOLD QUESTIONNAIRE The Household Questionnaire is a multi-topic survey instrument and is near-identical to the content and organization of the IHS3. It encompasses economic activities, demographics, welfare and other sectoral information of households. It covers a wide range of topics, dealing with the dynamics of poverty (consumption, cash and non-cash income, savings, assets, food security, health and education, vulnerability and social protection). Although the IHS4 household questionnaire covers a wide variety of topics in detail it intentionally excludes in-depth information on topics covered in other surveys that are part of the NSO’s statistical plan (such as maternal and child health issues covered at length in the Malawi Demographic and Health Survey).

AGRICULTURE QUESTIONNAIRE All IHS4 households that are identified as being involved in agricultural or livestock activities were administered the agriculture questionnaire, which is primarily modelled after the IHS3 counterpart. The modules are expanding on the agricultural content of the IHS3, IHS2, AISS, and other regional agricultural surveys, while remaining consistent with the NACAL topical coverage and methodology. The development of the agriculture questionnaire was done with input from the aforementioned stakeholders who provided input on the household questionnaire as well as outside researchers involved in research and policy discussions pertaining to the Malawian agriculture. The agriculture questionnaire allows, among other things, for extensive agricultural productivity analysis through the diligent estimation of land areas, both owned and cultivated, labor and non-labor input use and expenditures, and production figures for main crops, and livestock. Although one of the major foci of the agriculture data collection effort was to produce smallholder production estimates for major crops, it is also possible to disaggregate the data by gender and main geographical regions. The IHS4 cross-sectional households supply information on the last completed rainy season (2014/2015 or 2015/2016) and the last completed dry season (2015 or 2016) depending on the timing of their interview.

FISHERIES QUESTIONNAIRE The design of the IHS4 fishery questionnaire is identical to the questionnaire designed for IHS3. The IHS3 fisheries questionnaire was informed by the design and piloting of a fishery questionnaire by the World Fish Center (WFC), which was supported by the LSMS-ISA project for the purpose of assembling a fishery questionnaire that could be integrated into multi-topic household-surveys. The WFC piloted the draft instrument in November 2009 in the Lower Shire region, and the NSO team considered the revised draft in designing the IHS4 fishery questionnaire.

COMMUNITY QUESTIONNAIRE The content of the IHS4 Community Questionnaire follows the content of the IHS3 & IHPS Community Questionnaires. A “community” is defined as the village or urban location surrounding the enumeration area selected for inclusion in the sample and which most residents recognize as being their community. The IHS4 community questionnaire was administered to each community associated with the 780 cross-sectional EAs. Identical to the IHS3 approach, to a group of several knowledgeable residents such as the village headman, the headmaster of the local school, the agricultural field assistant, religious leaders, local merchants, health workers and long-term knowledgeable residents. The instrument gathers information on a range of community characteristics, including religious and ethnic background, physical infrastructure, access to public services, economic activities, communal resource management, organization and governance, investment projects, and local retail price information for essential goods and services.

Cleaning operations

DATA ENTRY PLATFORM To ensure data quality and timely availability of data, the IHS4 was implemented using the World Bank’s Survey Solutions CAPI software. To carry out IHS4, 1 laptop computer and a wireless internet router were assigned to each team supervisor, and each enumerator had an 8–inch GPS-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 tablet computer. The use of Survey Solutions allowed for the real-time availability of data as the completed data was completed, approved by the Supervisor and synced to the Headquarters server as frequently as possible. While administering the first module of the questionnaire the enumerator(s) also used their tablets to record the GPS coordinates of the dwelling units. In Survey Solutions, Headquarters can then see the location of the dwellings plotted on a map of Malawi to better enable supervision from afar – checking both the number of interviews performed and the fact that the sample households lie within EA boundaries. Geo-referenced household locations from that tablet complemented the GPS measurements taken by the Garmin eTrex 30 handheld devices and these were linked with publically available geospatial databases to enable the inclusion of a number of geospatial variables - extensive measures of distance (i.e. distance to the nearest market), climatology, soil and terrain, and other environmental factors - in the analysis.

DATA MANAGEMENT The IHS4 Survey Solutions CAPI based data entry application was designed to stream-line the data collection process from the field. IHS4 Interviews were collected in “sample” mode (assignments generated from headquarters) as opposed to “census” mode (new interviews created by interviewers from a template) for the NSO to have more control over the sample.

The range and consistency checks built into the application was informed by the LSMS-ISA experience in IHS3 and IHPS. Prior programming of the data entry application allowed for a wide variety of range and consistency checks to be conducted and reported and potential issues investigated and corrected before closing the assigned enumeration area. Headquarters (NSO management) assigned work to supervisors based on their regions of coverage. Supervisors then made assignments to the enumerators linked to their Supervisor account. The work assignments and syncing of completed interviews took place through a Wi-Fi connection to the IHS4 server. Because the data was available in real time it was monitored closely throughout the entire data collection period and upon receipt of the data at headquarters, data was exported to STATA for other consistency checks, data cleaning, and analysis.

DATA CLEANING The data cleaning process was done in several stages over the course of field work and through preliminary analysis. The first stage of data cleaning was conducted in the field by the field based field teams utilizing errors generated with the Survey Solutions application. For questions that

Quality of life varied by demographic and behavioral characteristics.

Demographic characteristics of participants (N = 17).

Abstract

The Integrated Household Survey (IHS) was a comprehensive socio-economic survey of the living standards of households in all districts of Malawi. The National Statistical Office administered the IHS questionnaire to about 12,900 households over a 12 month period, November 1997 to October 1998.

The IHS had five main objectives: · To provide a complete and integrated data set to arrive at a better understanding of households in poverty. · To serve a much broader set of applications on policy issues regarding: Household behaviour and welfare, Distribution of income and expenditure, Employment and Migration, Health, fertility and nutrition, Education and Access to Social facilities. · To provide fresh information on expenditure patterns of households. This information could be useful in the revision of commodity weights for the consumer price indices. · To provide estimates of final household consumption expenditure to serve as a basis for deriving direct estimates in the National Accounts of final household consumption expenditure. · To rationalise data collection, since household surveys were carried out in an uncoordinated manner in the past. The IHS addresses the interests of various users in one integrated data set with inter-linked modules.

Geographic coverage

National

The survey covered households from both the urban and rural areas of the country. The sample coverage of 12,960 households was designed such that it would give an overall relative standard error of 15 percent. These households were chosen from 29 Survey Districts (Statistical abstract Main survey.pdf page 5 ).

Data were collected in monthly rounds of 60 enumeration areas/clusters over a period of 12 months to account for seasonal effects during the year. There were 720 Enumeration Areas/Clusters (EAs) with 20 households being selected from each rural EA and 10 households from each urban EA. The sampling was designed to ensure that at least 240 households were interviewed in each survey district to provide an acceptable level of accuracy for each variable.

Analysis unit

Individuals Households

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The survey households were chosen following a multi-stage clustered random sampling approach. The 29 survey districts were grouped into 4 urban and 25 rural districts. All the districts were included in the survey. Separate procedures were followed in urban and rural areas.

This survey was carried out between November 1997 and October 1998 by our counterpart agency, the National Statistical Office, based in Zomba. The desire was to produce information that was representative at the district level. Consequently, all of the 25 administrative districts of the country formed clusters for the first stage of the sampling process. (There are now 26 districts, as one of the 25 was since subdivided.) Additionally, each of the four urban centers of Malawi - Blantyre, Zomba, Lilongwe, and Mzuzu - were treated as a separate statistical district. In total, twenty-nine statistical districts for which representative data was sought were delimited. Slightly different sample selection procedures were used in the rural and urban districts.

Rural district sample selection The next level below the district in the administrative hierarchy of the country is the traditional authority (TA) in rural areas and the ward in urban areas. In each of the 25 rural statistical districts, TAs were randomly selected from comprehensive lists of all TAs in the district. The number of TAs selected was done roughly proportional to population size in the statistical district. In the districts with small populations, only one TA was selected. The median number of TAs selected in a district was two, whereas in Lilongwe district, the most populous district, five TAs were selected. Comprehensive lists of all enumeration areas (EA) - a sub-unit of the TA - in the selected TAs were drawn up. Twelve EAs were randomly selected in each TA. The interview schedule involved interviewing all sample households in one of these twelve EAs each month of the year from November 1997 to October 1998. Comprehensive lists of all households in these selected EAs were then drawn up. Twenty households were randomly selected from these lists in each EA, for a total of 240 households for any one TA.

Urban district sample selection In the urban areas, the wards were ignored. Rather a comprehensive list of the enumeration areas - a sub-unit of the wards - was used for random selection of EAs. The number selected was roughly in proportion to population with the number of EAs being multiples of 12 to reflect the 12 months of the survey year (Blantyre - 60 EAs, Zomba - 24 EAs, Lilongwe - 36 EAs, Mzuzu - 24 EAs). Ten, rather than twenty, households in each of the EAs were then randomly selected from comprehensive lists of households in the selected EAs. Each EA was assigned to be interviewed in one of the twelve months of the survey year, e.g. all of the selected households in five EAs were interviewed each month in Blantyre, three EAs in Lilongwe, and all selected households in two EAs in Zomba and Mzuzu.

Overview The total sample size was 12,960 households, with 11,520 households in rural areas and 1,440 urban households. Each sample household was interviewed at the beginning of one of the twelve months of the survey year. The sample households were provided with a diary of expenditures to complete over the following 28 days. All household expenditures over that period were recorded in the diary. The households were visited every third day during the month to monitor the diary entries.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Data were collected using two main forms. These forms are described in more detail below: (a) FORM IHS-2: Household Characteristics, Income and Expenditure: This form collected data on almost all the modules of the Integrated Household Survey (37 modules). The data collected included the household roster, vital statistics, fertility and mortality, nutrition and anthropometrics, education, health, household expenditure, crop production and sales, livestock and poultry ownership, non-farm activities and income, assets, employment and migration and access to facilities. (b) Form IHS- 3: Diary of Expenditure: Data on daily expenditure was captured using this type of form. Households were asked to maintain the diary for a period of 28 days.

Cleaning operations

Data entry programs were written in IMPS (Integrated Microcomputer Processing System) and data from the questionnaires was captured onto computers initially at NSO's regional centres, and later at NSO headquarters in Zomba. The output from IMPS was in ASCII format, which had to be translated to SPSS. The data was then cleaned in and tabulated in SPSS and STATA, a process which was largely completed by end May 2000.