Abstract

The 2001 Bulgaria Integrated Household Survey was conducted by BBSS Gallup International under the supervision of the World Bank. Because of the expected excessive level of attrition due to the large time lag from the last survey and the massive internal and external migration since 1997, for the purpose of this survey it was decided to draw a new cross-section of households. Using the same stratified two-stage cluster design adopted in 1995, a similar nationally-representative sample was drawn by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) from the pre-census listing of the 2001 Population Census. The main objective of the survey was to provide comparable poverty figures with the previous studies, the questionnaire used is virtually identical to the one used in the previous surveys and when changes were introduced particular attention was paid to maintain consistency with the previous questionnaires.

Geographic coverage

National Coverage

Analysis unit

Households

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sample size is 2,875 households. As in 1995, the original sampling plan called for the selection of five households in each of 500 randomly selected census clusters. In 2001, six households per cluster were provided by NSI to Gallup and the sixth household was used to replace households in the original sample in cases of refusal or absence. Each field substitution had to be verified by the team leader and approved by the field supervisor. A total of 2,500 households were finally interviewed. In addition, 133 households were oversampled to allow more significant statistical comparisons of the group in some of the analyses. Detailed rules for the selection of the oversample were given to the enumerators and each selection was verified by the team leader.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face paper [f2f]

Abstract

The 2001 Bulgaria Integrated Household Survey was conducted by BBSS Gallup International under the supervision of the World Bank. Because of the expected excessive level of attrition due to the large time lag from the last survey and the massive internal and external migration since 1997, for the purpose of this survey it was decided to draw a new cross-section of households. Using the same stratified two-stage cluster design adopted in 1995, a similar nationally-representative sample was drawn by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) from the pre-census listing of the 2001 Population Census.

The main objective of the survey was to provide comparable poverty figures with the previous studies, the questionnaire used is virtually identical to the one used in the previous surveys and when changes were introduced particular attention was paid to maintain consistency with the previous questionnaires.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Households
• Individuals

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sample size is 2,875 households

As in 1995, the original sampling plan called for the selection of five households in each of 500 randomly selected census clusters. In 2001, six households per cluster were provided by NSI to Gallup and the sixth household was used to replace households in the original sample in cases of refusal or absence. Each field substitution had to be verified by the team leader and approved by the field supervisor. A total of 2,500 households were finally interviewed. In addition, 133 Roma households were oversampled to allow more significant statistical comparisons of the group in some of the analyses. Detailed rules for the selection of the oversample were given to the enumerators and each selection was verified by the team leader.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Being a multi-purpose survey, the BIHS01 questionnaire follows the structure of a typical Living Standard Measurement Survey (LSMS). The survey collected exhaustive information for the estimation of a consumption aggregate. This includes food and non-food consumption expenditures as well as data for the imputation of housing rental value and the user value of durable goods. The questionnaire also contains comprehensive information for the estimation of income by source, as well as quite extensive information on health, education and the labor market.

The questionnaire has the following sections: Section 1: Household Roster Section 2: Migration Section 3: Education Section 4: Housing Section 5.1: Food Expenditure and Consumption Section 5.2: Purchase of Non-Food Commodities Section 6.1: Employment - status and history of employment Section 6.2: Main job - dependent activity (working for a salary or commission for somebody else) Section 6.3: Second - dependent activity (working for a salary or commission for somebody else) Section 6.4: Self employment - independent activity (working for yourself) Section 6.5: Agricultural land Section 6.6: Agriculture - crop production, yield Section 6.7: Agriculture assets Section 6.8: Agriculture - livestock: cattle, pigs, etc. Section 6.9: Other Farming Income and Costs Section 7.1: Remittances - Income Received from Absent Members of the Household or from Any Other Person. Section 7.2: Remittances - Absent Household Members and Other Persons Who Received Contributions from the Household Section 8.1: State old age pension Section 8.2: Private old age pension Section 8.3: Survivor's pension Section 8.4: Disability pension Section 8.5: Unemployment benefits - for all people above age 15 Section 8.6: Maternity and childcare benefits under the social assistance system
Section 8.7: In kind individual social benefits Section 8.8: Summary of child benefit allowance Section 8.9: Cash and in kind household social benefits Section 8.10: Other forms of revenue/debts Section 9.1: Household furniture and durable goods Section 9.2: Real estate assets Section 10: Health Status Section 11. Ethnicity of main respondent