Household Budget Survey
Average expenditure per household member in a year by type of settlement, county, educational level and sex of the head of the household, and type of household broken down into main categories of expenditures: food and non-alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, clothing and footwear, housing, household equipment and operation, health, transport, communication, recreation and culture, education, restaurants and hotels, miscellaneous goods and services Number of households by structure, county, labour market situation of the household, size of the household, kind of dwelling, time of completion of the dwelling, number of rooms per household member, condition of the dwelling, heating facility, useful floor area per household member, running water and sewerage, lavatory, hot running water, washing facilities, distance to the nearest places of importance, possession of durable goods, possession of savings Self-assessed economic situation of households compared to one year ago and five years ago | |
Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements (EHAK) Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK 2008) based on NACE Rev. 2 International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO 08) International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) Classification of fields of education and training Classification of Ethnicities International Standard Codes for the Representation of the Names of Countries (ISO 3166) Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages (ISO 639-2) Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP) | |
Households | |
Adult – a household member aged 18 or more (as of the day of the interview) or a household member who has a partner or children in the household. Adult and child(ren) – a household consisting of one adult and at least one child aged 0–17. Child – a household member aged 0–17 (as of the day of the interview), who does not have a partner or children in the household. Consumption expenditure – monetary and non-monetary expenditure per household member that is connected with consumption. Consumption expenditure is divided by purpose according to the classification of consumption (COICOP-HBS) developed by Eurostat. Couple aged 65 and over without children – a household consisting of two members – two adults, who are legally married or cohabiting, both aged 65 or more. Couple with minor and adult children – a household consisting of two adults, who are legally married or cohabiting, at least one child aged 0–17 and at least one child aged 18 or over. Couple with one child – a household consisting of two adults and one child aged 0–17. Couple without children, at least one partner is aged under 65 – a household consisting of two members – two adults, who are legally married or cohabiting, at least one of them aged 64 or less. Couple with three or more children – a household consisting of two adults, who are legally married or cohabiting, and at least three children aged 0–17. Couple with two children – a household consisting of two adults, who are legally married or cohabiting, and two children aged 0–17. Expenditure decile – the variation line of households divided into ten equal parts. Division points are called decile points and the parts of variation line between them are called decile intervals or deciles. Households whose expenditure is smaller than the first expenditure decile point belong to the first expenditure decile interval and those whose expenditure exceeds the ninth expenditure decile point belong to the tenth expenditure decile interval, i.e. the extreme expenditure decile intervals are actually open (with one final point). Expenditures (outgoing) – main indicators of the Household Budget Survey. These expenditures are divided into two: consumption expenditure and other expenditure. Mortgage payments, real estate purchases, financial investments, expenses on major repairs or construction and other investments are not taken into account here. Expenditure quintile – the variation line of households divided into five equal parts. Division points are called quintile points and the parts of variation line between them are called quintile intervals or quintiles. Households whose expenditure is smaller than the first expenditure quintile point belong to the first expenditure quintile interval and, those whose expenditure exceeds the fourth expenditure quintile point belong to the fifth expenditure quintile interval, i.e. the extreme expenditure quintile intervals are practically open (with one final point). Head of the household – the household member aged 16 or over with the largest long-term contribution to the household’s income. Household – a group of people who live in a common main dwelling (at the same address) and share joint financial and/or food resources and whose members consider themselves to be one household. Household can also consist of one member only. Household with children – a household where there is at least one child aged 0–17. Household without children – a household where there are no children aged 0–17. Income quintile – the variation line of households (or members of households) divided into five equal parts. Division points are called quintile points and the parts of variation line between them are called quintile intervals or quintiles. Households whose income is smaller than the first income quintile point belong into the first income quintile interval and those whose income exceeds the fourth income quintile point belong to the fifth income quintile interval, i.e. the extreme income quintile intervals are actually open (with one final point). Main dwelling – the dwelling where a person spends/has spent, during a longer period, - most of the year, - most of the time free from work/studies. Main dwelling of a legally married or cohabiting person is the dwelling where he/she spends most of the time spent with his/her partner or/and children. Non-monetary consumption – consumption of non-monetary income and other expenditure converted into monetary value. Other expenditure – donations, monetary gifts, alimonies paid out of household, fines, etc. Other household with children – a household, where there is at least one child aged 0–17, which does not fall under any of the above-mentioned groups. Other household without children – a household, where there are no children aged 0–17, which does not fall under any of the above-mentioned groups. Other inactive household – a household, where there are no working members aged 15 or more and which does not fall under unemployed household or retired household. Retired household – a non-working and non-unemployed household with at least one non-working old-age pensioner. Rural settlement – a small town and a village. Savings – deposits, endowment insurances, stocks and other savings. Single person aged under 65 – a household consisting of one person aged 64 or less. Single person aged 65 or more – a household consisting of one person aged 65 or more. Social-economic status – a usual or current main status of a person according to the person’s own opinion (employed, unemployed, retired, student, etc.). Unemployed household – a non-working household with at least one unemployed member aged 15 or more (i.e. who is not working, is looking for a job and is prepared to start working within two weeks). Urban settlement – a city, a city without municipal status and town. Working household – a household with at least one working member aged 15 or more. | |
Person Household | |
Households whose usual place of residence is in Estonia, and the members of these households, excluding persons living in institutions (children’s homes, care homes, monasteries, convents, etc.). FRAME Persons registered in the population register and their household members | |
Estonia as a whole Regions Counties Urban and rural settlements | |
1996–2007, 2010–2012, 2015–2016, 2019–2020 | |
Not applicable |
DIRECTLY APPLICABLE LEGAL ACTS Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/256 of 16 December 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing a multiannual rolling planning (Text with EEA relevance) Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples, amending Regulations (EC) No 808/2004, (EC) No 452/2008 and (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 (Text with EEA relevance) OTHER LEGAL ACTS Not available OTHER AGREEMENTS Not available |
The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 32, § 34, § 35, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. | |
The dissemination of data collected for the production of official statistics is based on the requirements laid down in §§ 34 and 35 of the Official Statistics Act. The principles for treatment of confidential data can be found here. |
Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on the website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month). | |
All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities and mass media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the statistical database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar. |
Not published | |
Not published | |
Data are published in the statistical database at https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat in the tables LE201–LE215 of the subject area “Social life / Households / Household budget / Annual expenditure”, in the tables LER011–LER33 of the subject area “Social life / Households / Household living conditions / Dwellings”, in the tables LET01–LET07 and LET091–LET109 of the subject area “Social life / Households / Household living conditions / Households by place of residence”, and in the tables LET111–LET209 of the subject area “Social life / Households / Household living conditions / Households by structure”. | |
The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 33, § 34, § 35, § 36, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. Access to microdata and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes. | |
Data serve as input for statistical activities 20206 “Energy consumption and production (annual)”, 21401 “National accounts (annual)”, 21403 “Tourism satellite accounts”, 21405 “National accounts (quarterly)”, 21407 “Sector accounts”, 22107 “Travelling of Estonian residents”, 40204 “Consumption expenditure forecast”, 40205 “Living conditions”, 40416 “Employment and financial statistics of the cultural sector” and 40611 “Integration of disabled persons”. | |
Household Budget Survey. Methodology, Statistics Estonia (2012) http://www.stat.ee/dokumendid/59873 | |
Data on the quality of the population, sample and respondents are published in the Statistical Database. |
To assure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Estonia applies the EFQM Excellence Model, the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF). Statistics Estonia is also guided by the requirements in § 7. “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act. | |
Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions. |
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Ministry of Rural Affairs Ministry of Finance Ministry of Social Affairs Eesti Pank (central bank of Estonia) University of Tartu | |
Since 1996, Statistics Estonia has conducted reputation and user satisfaction surveys. All results are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section User surveys. | |
In compliance with the rules (regulations) |
The accuracy of source data is monitored by assessing the methodological soundness of data sources and adherence to methodological recommendations. Data on alcoholic beverages and tobacco products are considered underestimated, as people generally give imprecise answers to questions about buying and using these products. Expenditure data do not include expenditure on pension insurance, housing loan payments, real estate purchases, financial investments, expenditure on major repairs or construction or other investments. | |
The error due to probability sampling is estimated and the sampling errors of household expenditure estimates are published in the Statistical Database. | |
Although the registration of place of residence is obligatory in Estonia, there is some under-coverage of persons and households in the population register. Assuming that all persons living permanently in Estonia are registered in the Population Register and considering the amount of imprecise addresses in the population register, the under-coverage of households may be at most 1–1.5%. Measurement errors can stem from the questionnaire (its wording, design, etc.), the interviewees, the interviewers and the data collection method. While it is impossible to completely avoid this type of errors, Statistics Estonia has tried to reduce them as much as possible. The data are checked in three stages: initial check upon data entry during the interview (on the laptop), secondary check of newly received data at the office and finally data cleaning. Data entry mistakes have decreased thanks to the continuing development of primary logic checks in the data entry program. |
The Household Budget Survey collects data according to the classification COICOP-HBS which has been developed by Eurostat. Data for Estonia are comparable with the data for countries that use the same classification. | |
The Household Budget Survey started in 1995 as a household income and expenditure survey (LSKU). Interview and diary methods were used. First, a questionnaire was completed for the participating household. The income, taxes and expenditure diary and the food expenditure diary were kept by the households for a period of one month. All participating households were interviewed several times; the household was included in the sample every three months. In 2000, the survey was updated – the sampling design changed, new questions were added to the questionnaire, a follow-up interview was added. In 2008 and 2009, the survey did not take place. In 2010, the survey was updated – the sampling design changed, the number of questionnaires and diaries was reduced (only one household questionnaire and one diary, to be kept by the household for two weeks, remained). Retrospective questions regarding major purchases during the preceding 12 months as well as questions about housing costs in the previous month were added to the questionnaire. Differences in classifications: In 1996–1997, expenditures were coded according to an internal classification of Statistics Estonia; In 1998–2003, expenditures were coded according to the version of COICOP-HBS included in the document “Household budget surveys in the EU: methodology and recommendations for harmonization 2007”; In 2004–2007 and 2010–2012, expenditures were coded according to COICOP-HBS 2003. In the Statistical Database, the average monthly expenditures per household member are published for 1996–2007. Since 2010, the average annual expenditures per household member are published. The expenditure categories (except for food and non-alcoholic beverages) for 1996‒2007 do not include non-monetary expenditures, as non-monetary expenditures form a separate category. | |
The consumption expenditure and living conditions of households are closely related to other statistics in this field. Coherence issues should be taken into account when comparing data relating to similar variables from other sources – Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), national accounts (NA). | |
The sum of lower level expenditures does not necessarily equal the corresponding higher level expenditure, because some expenditures have been coded on a higher level. |
The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics of the website of Statistics Estonia. | |
Not applicable |
SURVEY DATA Data has been collected by sample survey. Total population size: 1,137,000 persons. The sample size: 7,781 persons. Type of sampling design: stratified unproportional systematic sampling. In the case of this sampling procedure, the population is divided into non-overlapping subpopulations or strata, and independent subsamples are drawn separately from each subpopulation following the systematic sampling procedure and applying different inclusion probabilities. The population was stratified by the county of the address person’s place of residence: 1) Harju, Ida-Viru, Lääne-Viru, Pärnu, Tartu counties; 2) Jõgeva, Järva, Lääne, Põlva, Rapla, Saare, Valga, Viljandi, Võru counties; 3) Hiiu county. ADMINISTRATIVE DATA Data on percentage of loss of capacity for work (20, 30, etc. up to 100) and on degree of disability (moderate, severe, profound) are received from the Estonian National Social Insurance Board. DATA FROM OTHER STATISTICAL ACTIVITIES Not used | |
Quarterly | |
Data are collected from individuals. The methods used for collecting the data include a personal interview (CAPI) and an expenditure diary filled in by the respondent (PAPI). The interviews are conducted by Statistics Estonia's interviewers with relevant training. The Survey Fieldwork Information System is used to manage and monitor data collection. The questionnaires have been designed to be filled in electronically by the respondent. The information related to data submission is available on Statistics Estonia's website at https://www.stat.ee/en/submit-data/about-data-submission. The population of the survey is ordinary Estonian households. The sample is taken from all permanent residents of Estonia at least 15 years of age, except those who have been in institutions for a long time (at least one year). A permanent resident is a person who has stayed in Estonia or intends to stay here for at least one year. The sample is taken by systematic selection from the Population Register. The sample includes more than 9,000 households per year. The data are collected with the official statistics questionnaires “Household Budget Survey. Questionnaire” and “Household Budget Survey. Diary”. The data from the Estonian National Social Insurance Board are received via an FTP-server. | |
Arithmetic and qualitative controls are used in the validation process, including comparison with other data. Before data dissemination, the internal coherence of the data is checked. For publishing the data of expenditures the following criteria are used as a basis: - the expenditure should occur at least 40 times in the dataset; - the expenditure should not increase or decrease by more than 200% without a convincing reason; - the relative standard error of the expenditure should not exceed 25%. | |
The expenditures from both the household questionnaire and the diary book (including receipts) are coded using the COICOP-HBS classification. Then annual expenditures by expenditure groups are calculated for each household. From the household questionnaire the following are taken into account when calculating household’s yearly expenditures: - expenditures made on housing (administrative and maintenance costs, repairs fund, disposition of garbage, water and sewage, central heating, hot water, electricity, gas), fixed phones, mobile phones, Internet, television, residential surveillance, rent made during the previous month with coefficient 12; - large expenditures (over 100 euros) made on goods and services mentioned in questions C09-C49 during the previous 12 months with coefficient 0,96; - large expenditures (over 200 euros) made during the previous 12 months with coefficient 0,96; - expenditures made on heating materials (firewood, briquette, coal, fuel oil) and estate tax during the previous 12 months with coefficient 0,96; - in-kind income received during the previous month from the employer, as an entrepreneur or a business owner, with coefficient 12; - in-kind contributions received during the previous 12 months from the state, municipal government, private citizens, other foundations or organizations or for business activities with coefficient 1. Selling of motor vehicles is considered negative expenditure, the difference of the value of bought and sold vehicles is taken into account. From the diary book the expenditures (including consumption of self-own produced foodstuffs) are as a rule taken into account with coefficient 26 when calculating household’s yearly expenditures, with the following exceptions: - expenditures made on housing (administrative and maintenance costs, repairs fund, disposition of garbage, water and sewage, central heating, hot water, electricity, gas), fixed phones, mobile phones, Internet, television, residential surveillance, rent are not taken into account (are taken into account with coefficient 0); - expenditures made on goods and services mentioned in questions C09-C49 are taken into account with coefficient 0,96 if they exceed 100 euros; - all expenditures are taken into account with coefficient 0,96 if they exceed 200 euros; - expenditures made on heating materials (firewood, briquette, coal, fuel oil) and estate tax are taken into account with coefficient 0,96. Unknown quantities in the diary (food, beverages and tobacco) are imputed based on the sum of the expenditure, using the average annual price per unit of the respective expenditure type. Similarly, unknown sums (food, beverages and tobacco) are imputed based on the recorded quantities, using the average annual price per unit of the respective expenditure type. The costs of self-produced foodstuffs are imputed based on the quantities, using the average annual price per unit. Uncoded expenditures are divided into 12 main consumption expenditure groups taking into account the additional information recorded for the expenditure. If additional information is not sufficient for determining the type of expenditure, the main group is imputed to the expenditure. Some additional variables are imputed using statistical methods, including total cost of housing and rent. If the household completed the household questionnaire, but did not keep the diary book, the missing diary is imputed by hot-deck method. | |
Not applied |