Consumer Expenditure Survey 2003

Statistics Norway has used the periodic Consumer Expenditure Surveys as the basis to develop and update the weight basis for the Consumer Price Index. Detailed overview of the consumption in private households has been an important foundation for the living conditions statistics, og for research on income, living conditions and for example the effects of the taxation systems use of direct and indirect taxes. The material is also detailed enough to provide an interesting basis for dietary analysis. The data kan even be used for demand studies, in financial planning models or for the specification of the private consumption in the national accounts.

In 1974, Statistics Norway started doing yearly surveys with a somewhat smaller sample. From 1974-1976, the data is publish for three years at the time, and the yearly gross sample is about 1500 households with a net sample of 1100-1200 households. The goal was to continue to build a detailed overview of the consumption in private households, as the basis for updating the weight basis for the Consumer Price Index. In addition, one wishes to map the consumption of different types of households. The households are classified by variables such as household type, income, the employment status of the main income provider in the household, age, residential areas, size of total consumption expenditures, etc. Data are organized in several parts og contains background information about the household (collected through a introductory interview which maps the household composition), detailed consumption measured in value and amount (registered in diaries for the household as a whole, as well as the individuals it consists of), the households purchases of lasting consumer goods (lasting capital goods, collected in an extensive exit interview), consumption of self-made goods, income and tax.