Household Income, Expenditure, and Consumption Survey, HIECS 2010/2011 - Egypt

Abstract --------------------------- THE CLEANED AND HARMONIZED VERSION OF THE SURVEY DATA PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY THE ECONOMIC RESEARCH FORUM REPRESENTS 50% OF THE ORIGINAL SURVEY DATA COLLECTED BY THE CENTRAL AGENCY FOR PUBLIC MOBILIZATION AND STATISTICS (CAPMAS) The Household Income, Expenditure and Consumption Survey (HIECS) is of great importance among other household surveys conducted by statistical agencies in various countries around the world. This survey provides a large amount of data to rely on in measuring the living standards of households and individuals, as well as establishing databases that serve in measuring poverty, designing social assistance programs, and providing necessary weights to compile consumer price indices, considered to be an important indicator to assess inflation. The HIECS 2010/2011 is the tenth Household Income, Expenditure and Consumption Survey that was carried out in 2010/2011, among a long series of similar surveys that started back in 1955. The survey main objectives are: - To identify expenditure levels and patterns of population as well as socio- economic and demographic differentials. - To measure average household and per-capita expenditure for various expenditure items along with socio-economic correlates. - To Measure the change in living standards and expenditure patterns and behavior for the individuals and households in the panel sample, previously surveyed in 2008/2009, for the first time during 12 months representing the survey period. - To define percentage distribution of expenditure for various items used in compiling consumer price indices which is considered important indicator for measuring inflation. - To estimate the quantities, values of commodities and services consumed by households during the survey period to determine the levels of consumption and estimate the current demand which is important to predict future demands. - To define average household and per-capita income from different sources. - To provide data necessary to measure standard of living for households and individuals. Poverty analysis and setting up a basis for social welfare assistance are highly dependent on the results of this survey. - To provide essential data to measure elasticity which reflects the percentage change in expenditure for various commodity and service groups against the percentage change in total expenditure for the purpose of predicting the levels of expenditure and consumption for different commodity and service items in urban and rural areas. - To provide data essential for comparing change in expenditure against change in income to measure income elasticity of expenditure. - To study the relationships between demographic, geographical, housing characteristics of households and their income. - To provide data necessary for national accounts especially in compiling inputs and outputs tables. - To identify consumers behavior changes among socio-economic groups in urban and rural areas. - To identify per capita food consumption and its main components of calories, proteins and fats according to its nutrition components and the levels of expenditure in both urban and rural areas. - To identify the value of expenditure for food according to its sources, either from household production or not, in addition to household expenditure for non-food commodities and services. - To identify distribution of households according to the possession of some appliances and equipments such as (cars, satellites, mobiles ,…etc) in urban and rural areas that enables measuring household wealth index. - To identify the percentage distribution of income earners according to some background variables such as housing conditions, size of household and characteristics of head of household. Compared to previous surveys, the current survey experienced certain peculiarities, among which : 1- The total sample of the current survey (26.5 thousand households) is divided into two sections: a- A new sample of 16.5 thousand households. This sample was used to study the geographic differences between urban governorates, urban and rural areas, and frontier governorates as well as other discrepancies related to households characteristics and household size, head of the household's education status, ....... etc. b- A panel sample with 2008/2009 survey data of around 10 thousand households was selected to accurately study the changes that may have occurred in the households' living standards over the period between the two surveys and over time in the future since CAPMAS will continue to collect panel data for HIECS in the coming years. 2- The number of enumeration area segments is reduced from 2526 in the previous survey to 1000 segments for the new sample, with decreasing the number of households selected from each segment to be (16/18) households instead of (19/20) in the previous survey. 3- Some additional questions that showed to be important based on previous surveys results, were added, such as: a- Collect the expenditure data on education and health on the person level and not on the household level to enable assessing the real level of average expenditure on those services based on the number of beneficiaries. b- The extent of health services provided to monitor the level of services available in the Egyptian society. c- Smoking patterns and behaviors (tobacco types- consumption level- quantities purchased and their values). d- Counting the number of household members younger than 18 years of age registered in ration cards. e- Add more details to social security pensions data (for adults, children, scholarships, families of civilian martyrs due to military actions) to match new systems of social security. f- Duration of usage and current value of durable goods aiming at estimating the service cost of personal consumption, as in the case of imputed rents. 4- Quality control procedures especially for fieldwork, are increased, to ensure data accuracy and avoid any errors in suitable time, as well as taking all the necessary measures to guarantee that mistakes are not repeated, with the application of the principle of reward and punishment. The raw survey data provided by the Statistical Agency were cleaned and harmonized by the Economic Research Forum, in the context of a major project that started in 2009. During which extensive efforts have been exerted to acquire, clean, harmonize, preserve and disseminate micro data of existing household surveys in several Arab countries. Geographic coverage --------------------------- Covering a sample of urban and rural areas in all the governorates. Analysis unit --------------------------- 1- Household/family. 2- Individual/person. Universe --------------------------- The survey covered a national sample of households and all individuals permanently residing in surveyed households. Kind of data --------------------------- Sample survey data [ssd] Sampling procedure --------------------------- THE CLEANED AND HARMONIZED VERSION OF THE SURVEY DATA PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY THE ECONOMIC RESEARCH FORUM REPRESENTS 50% OF THE ORIGINAL SURVEY DATA COLLECTED BY THE CENTRAL AGENCY FOR PUBLIC MOBILIZATION AND STATISTICS (CAPMAS) The sample of HIECS 2010/2011 is a self-weighted two-stage stratified cluster sample, of around 26500 households. The main elements of the sampling design are described in the following. 1- Sample Size It has been deemed important to collect a smaller sample size (around 26.5 thousand households) compared to previous rounds due to the convergence in the time period over which the survey is conducted to be every two years instead of five years because of its importance. The sample has been proportionally distributed on the governorate level between urban and rural areas, in order to make the sample representative even for small governorates. Thus, a sample of about 26500 households has been considered, and was distributed between urban and rural with the percentages of 47.1 % and 52.9, respectively. This sample is divided into two parts: a- A new sample of 16.5 thousand households selected from main enumeration areas. b- A panel sample with 2008/2009 survey data of around 10 thousand households. 2- Cluster size The cluster size in the previous survey has been decreased compared to older surveys since large cluster sizes previously used were found to be too large to yield accepted design effect estimates (DEFT). As a result, it has been decided to use a cluster size of only 16 households (that was increased to 18 households in urban governorates and Giza, in addition to urban areas in Helwan and 6th of October, to account for anticipated non-response in those governorates: in view of past experience indicating that non-response may almost be nil in rural governorates). While the cluster size for the panel sample was 4 households. 3- Core Sample The core sample is the master sample of any household sample required to be pulled for the purpose of studying the properties of individuals and families. It is a large sample and distributed on urban and rural areas of all governorates. It is a representative sample for the individual characteristics of the Egyptian society. This sample was implemented in January 2010 and its size reached more than 1 million household (1004800 household) selected from 5024 enumeration areas distributed on all governorates (urban/rural) proportionally with the sample size (the enumeration area size is around 200 households). The core sample is the sampling frame from which the samples for the surveys conducted by CAPMAS are pulled, such as the Labor Force Surveys, Income, Expenditure And Consumption Survey, Household Urban Migration Survey, ...etc, in addition to other samples that may be required for outsources. New Households Sample 1000 sample areas were selected across all governorates (urban/rural) using a proportional technique with the sample size. The number required for each governorate (urban/rural) was selected from the enumeration areas of the core sample using a systematic sampling technique. A more detailed description of the different sampling stages and allocation of sample across governorates is provided in the Methodology document available among external resources in both Arabic and English. Mode of data collection --------------------------- Face-to-face [f2f] Research instrument --------------------------- Three different questionnaires have been designed as following: 1- Expenditure and Consumption Questionnaire. 2- Diary Questionnaire (Assisting questionnaire). 3- Income Questionnaire. In designing the questionnaires of expenditure, consumption and income, we were taking into our consideration the following: - Using the recent concepts and definitions of International Labor Organization approved in the International Convention of Labor Statisticians held in Geneva, 2003. - Using the recent Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP). - Using more than one approach of expenditure measurement to serve many purposes of the survey. A brief description of each questionnaire is given next: 1- Expenditure and Consumption Questionnaire ----------------------------------------------------------- This questionnaire comprises 14 tables in addition to identification and geographic data of household on the cover page. The questionnaire is divided into two main sections. Section one: Household schedule and other information, it includes: - Demographic characteristics and basic data for all household individuals consisting of 26 questions for every person. - Members of household who are currently working abroad. - The household ration card. - The main outlets that provide food and beverage. - Domestic and foreign tourism. - The housing conditions including 16 questions. - Household ownership of means of transportation, communication and domestic appliances. - Date of purchase, status at purchase, purchase value and current imputed value of the household possessed appliances and means of transportation. -This section includes some questions which help to define the social and economic level of households which in turn, help interviewers to check the plausibility of expenditure, consumption and income data. Section two: Expenditure and consumption data It includes 14 tables as follows: 1- The quantity and value of food and beverages commodities actually consumed. 2- The quantity and value of the actual consumption of alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics. 3- The quantity and value of the clothing and footwear. 4- The household expenditure on housing. 5- The household expenditure on furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house. 6- The household expenditure on health care services. 7- The household expenditure on transportation. 8- The household expenditure on communication. 9- The household expenditure on recreation and culture 10- The household expenditure on education. 11- The household expenditure at restaurants and hotels. 12- The household expenditure on miscellaneous goods and services. 13- Transfer payments. 14- Total annual household expenditure (prepared in office) The tables from 1 to 13 include all types of commodities and services (778 Items), 47 Sub-group and 12 Main groups in addition to transfer payments. This questionnaire has been designed to be pre-coded for all expenditure items and household characteristics, to avoid possible coding mistakes, except for the occupation and industry. Those were coded at the office following the International classifications for occupation and industry. On the questionnaire cover, geographic information were coded at the office, as well, following the Administrative Classification. The questionnaire was designed to cover different reference periods for expenditure data, since they differ based on the expenditure nature. The reference period agreed upon for regular consumption of commodities such as those related to food and beverage is two weeks. Alcoholic beverages and Tobacco are collected for a reference of one month ending by the end of the survey period. Commodities and services consumed on a semi-regular basis are collected for a reference of 3 month while commodities and services consumed less regularly are collected on annual basis, ending by the end of the survey period. The total number of items is increased to 778 commodity and service compared to 771 in 2008/2009 survey. 2 - Diary Questionnaire (Assisting questionnaire) ----------------------------------------------------------- The assisting questionnaire has been prepared to help households recording - on a daily basis- the quantity and value of what have been consumed of food and beverages during the reference period (15 days). Therefore, this questionnaire is considered the main source of expenditure data on food and beverage, and was designed in a very simple form to facilitate using it by the surveyed household and the interviewers during their frequent visits to the household. Due to the importance of such a questionnaire, the households are required to record their expenses daily, and the interviewers are instructed to check what households have recorded during their 6 visits to the household during the survey period. In case of the inability of some households to record their daily expenditure, the interviewer has to do so. The questionnaire includes: a- Letter addressed to the head of household to inform him/her about the importance of survey so that his/her cooperation may be stimulated. b- Instructions of data recording for households and interviewers. c- A group of modules to record daily consumption of household as follows: Module (A): Includes twenty pages to record the daily consumed quantity and value of food and beverages, during the survey period. Each pages consists of 4 columns and each column is used to register the data of one good, including: Date, source of commodity, quantity and value. Module (B): Includes eight pages to record the value of expenditure for meals and tobacco outside the house, in addition to the value of expenditure for food prepared outside the house and consumed inside the house. Module (C1): Includes 12 pages to record the total of quantity and value of consumed food and beverages according to source, either from household production or in-kind transfer, during the survey period using the data recorded in Module (A). Module (C2): Includes 6 pages to record the total of quantity and value of actually consumed food and beverages according to source, either from household production or in-kind transfer, during the survey period using the data recorded in Module (A). Module (D): Includes two pages to record total expenditure on food and beverages consumed outside home during the survey period using the data recorded in Module (B). 3- Income questionnaire ------------------------------- It includes annual household income data according to income sources (excluding irregular incomes). It consists of several tables; each is designated to a specific income source. These sources are: - Wages and salaries for wage/salary for earners among household members. - Self-employed income from agriculture projects. - Self-employed income from non Agriculture projects. - Financial properties such as stocks, bonds, deposits and investment certificates. - Non- financial properties such as agriculture or non-agriculture land and rented to others properties. - Imputed rent of owner-occupied dwellings. - Received cash and in kind transfers Cleaning operations --------------------------- Raw Data ======= Office Editing: It is one of the main stages of the survey. It started as soon as the questionnaires were received from the field and accomplished by selected work groups. It includes: a- Editing of coverage and completeness b- Editing of consistency c- Arithmetic editing of quantities and values. Data Coding: Specialized staff has coded the data of industry, occupation and geographical identification. Data Processing and preparing final results It included machine data entry, data validation and tabulation and preparing final survey volumes. Harmonized Data ============ - The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) is used to clean and harmonize the datasets. - The harmonization process starts with cleaning all raw data files received from the Statistical Agency. - Cleaned data files are then all merged to produce one data file on the individual level containing all variables subject to harmonization. - A country-specific program is generated for each dataset to generate/compute /recode/rename/format/label harmonized variables. - A post-harmonization cleaning process is then conducted on the data. - Harmonized data is saved on the household as well as the individual level, in SPSS and converted to STATA format. Response rate --------------------------- For the total sample, the response rate was 93.0% (91.2% in urban areas and 95.6% in rural areas). Response rates on the governorate level at each sampling stage are presented in the methodology document attached to the documentation materials published in both Arabic and English. Sampling error estimates --------------------------- The sampling error of major survey estimates has been derived using the Ultimate Cluster Method as applied in the CENVAR Module of the Integrated Microcomputer Processing System (IMPS) Package. In addition to the estimate of sampling error, the output includes estimates of coefficient of variation, design effect (DEFF) and 95% confidence intervals. Data appraisal --------------------------- Quality Control Procedures included: 1- Procedures implemented by the survey division -------------------------------------------------------------- 1- Applying the recent international recommendations of different concepts and definitions of income and expenditure considering maintaining the consistency with the previous surveys in order to compare and study the changes in pertinent indicators. 2- Evaluating the quality of data in all different Implementation stages to avoid or minimize errors to the lowest extent possible through: Implementing field editing after finishing data collection for households in governorates to avoid any errors in suitable time. Setting up a program for the Survey Technical Committee Members and survey staff for visiting fieldwork in all governorates (each 15 days) to solve any problem in the proper time. For the purpose of quality assurance, tables were generated for each survey round where internal consistency checks were performed to study the plausibility of consistency of data collected. 2- Procedures implemented by the quality control general division -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A- It was put into consideration during the survey implementation to assign the quality control general division a core role in controlling the quality of the fieldwork to ensure data accuracy and avoid any errors in suitable time, as well as taking all the necessary measures to guarantee that mistakes are not repeated, with the application of the principle of reward and punishment, and announce the results to all those working in the survey. B- 24 quality control rounds (2 rounds weekly) covering all governorates were implemented. A complete report on the results of each round was produced and distributed to all workers in the survey. The quality control procedures covered 73.2% of total kism/district in urban areas, 48.3% of rural districts, and 48% of total EAs of the new sample, where the percentage of inconsistencies did not exceed 2%. As for the panel sample, the quality control procedures covered 50.3% of total kism/district in urban areas, 16.9% of rural districts, and 14.2% of total EAs of the new sample, where the percentage of inconsistencies did not exceed 2.1%.