CSO to survey household budgets, living conditions

THE Central Statistical Office (CSO) is set to do a national survey, targeting households' budgets and their living conditions, over the next year.

The Household Budget Survey and Survey of Living Conditions (HBS/SLC) is set to begin this Sunday, February 12, and to conclude in January 2024.

Designed to collect very detailed information on household budgets, namely, expenditure and income data of the household, it will entail individual CSO field officers along with individual households keeping copious notes and records over the period, to adequately inform the outcome.

Citizens are being asked for their time and patience, as the data collected will be crucial to improving the country’s socio-economic policies and the nation’s future.

Planning and Development Minister Pennelope Beckles, in announcing the exercise on Friday, said the aim is to monitor TT’s progress in achieving the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through the National Development Strategy, Vision 2030.

To this end, households will be surveyed for the purpose of collecting demographic data on the condition of dwellings and availability of utilities, expenditure on health, education, entertainment, personal care etc, mortality and migration, social behaviour, satisfaction with life, fertility, adult literacy and more.

The ministry hopes the data collected will help in developing a current basket of household goods and services and form the basis for the revision of the Index of Retail Prices, which is used to monitor the inflation rate.

It also outlined as the main objectives the collection of detailed data on household expenditure and income, facilitation of the construction of poverty lines and production of indicators of deprivation for social research and poverty analyses, as well as assessing, gauging and monitoring the national progress toward the attainment of the SDG’s.

The first such survey was conducted by the CSO in 1957 and the last, in 2008/2009.

In a statement, Beckles said for the first time this year, the HBS will be combined with the SLC, resulting in reduced costs and a decreased respondent burden.

“The SLC has been utilised as the main source of robust quantitative data to generate key poverty, inequality and vulnerability indicators and to evaluate living conditions at a point in time.”

The surveys are also being merged in order to yield better-quality expenditure data, while also providing detailed information on health, education, labour and other characteristics of living conditions.

The CSO is hoping to sample 7,200 randomly selected households across the country, via a questionnaire that field staff will use to capture both household and individual information.

A diary will also be issued to the household to keep records of all food, non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks, tobacco and ready-made meals bought over a two-week period.

“If a household falls within the sample, an experienced field interviewer will visit the address and administer the survey. A responsible household member will be asked to keep a log of purchases in the diary provided,” the statement said.

Given high crime, the ministry has underscored that for identification purposes, all field staff – approximately 40 field enumerators, 14 field supervisors and one zone co-ordinator – will be dressed in khaki T-shirts with the CSO and HBS/SLC logos.

They will also be equipped with CSO ID cards and tablets to do interviews.