Household Income, Expenditure, and Consumption Survey, HIECS 2017/2018 - Egypt, Arab Rep.

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 First Survey that covered all the country governorates was carried out in 1958/1959 followed by a long series of similar surveys. The current survey, HIECS 2017/2018, is the Thirteenth in this long series. Starting 2008/2009, Household Income, Expenditure and Consumption Surveys were conducted each two years instead of five years. this would enable better tracking of the rapid changes in the level of the living standards of the Egyptian households. CAPMAS started in 2010/2011 to follow a panel sample of around 40% of the total household sample size. The current survey is the fourth one to follow a panel sample. This procedure will provide the necessary data to extract accurate indicators on the status of the society. The CAPMAS also is pleased to disseminate the results of this survey to policy makers, researchers and scholarly to help in policy making and conducting development related researches and studies 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. - To provide a time series of the most important data related to dominant standard of living from economic and social perspective. This will enable conducting comparisons based on the results of these time series. In addition to, the possibility of performing geographical comparisons. 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 2017/2018 is a self-weighted two-stage stratified cluster sample. The main elements of the sampling design are described in the following. 1- Sample Size The sample size is around 26 thousand households. It was distributed between urban and rural with the percentages of 45% and 55%, respectively. 2- Cluster size The cluster size is 20 households in all governorates. 3- Sample allocation in different governorates 45% of the survey sample was allocated to urban areas (12020 households) and the other 55% was allocated to rural areas (13780 households). The sample was distributed on urban/rural areas in different governorates proportionally with the household size A sample size of a minimum of 1000 households was allocated to each governorate to ensure accuracy of poverty indicators. Therefore, the sample size was increased in Port-Said, Suez, Ismailiya, kafr el-Sheikh, Damietta, Bani Suef, Fayoum, Qena, Luxor and Aswan, by compensation from other governorates where the sample size exceeds a 1000 households. All Frontier governorates were considered as one governorate. 4- 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 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. 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 Arabic. Mode of data collection --------------------------- Face-to-face [f2f] Research instrument --------------------------- Three different questionnaires have been designed as following: 1- Expenditure and Consumption Questionnaire. 2- 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 25 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. - The Duration since the household was established - The main outlet that provides fabrics, clothes and footwear. -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 The tables from 1 to 13 include all types of commodities and services (850 Items), 50 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 increased to 850 commodity and service compared to 778 in 2012/2013 survey. ----> 2 - 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. 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 ten 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 - Data entry was conducted using the tablets carried by interviewers upon data collection, during visits. - Data entry programs were designed and implemented by data experts in CAPMAS - Those programs are flexible and user friendly. - Validation rules were further added to the entry programs to ensure data is correctly entered. - Further errors are produced in reports through the same program. - Errors are then corrected to ensure data files produced are free of error. ----> 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 new sample, the response rate was 96.8% (94.2% in urban areas and 99.03% 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 Arabic.