Households' consumption
Producer: Statistics Finland
Homepage: http://
www.stat.fi/til/ktutk/index_en.html
Main topic: Income and Consumption
Related topics: Living Conditions
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Yes
European Statistical System (ESS): Yes
Description
Statistics Finland's Household Budget Survey produces data on changes in the consumption expenditure of households and on differences in consumption by population group. The survey also studies households’ housing conditions, possession of vehicles and income. In addition, the survey produces data on the benefit gained from the use of social services and the amounts of food bought home.
The survey is a sample survey, for which data are collected from households with telephone interviews and diaries filled in by them, and from purchase receipts and administrative registers. The last survey has been made in 2016. From1966 until 1990, the survey was conducted regularly at five-year intervals. From 1994 to 1996 the survey was carried out annually. Since then, Household Budget Surveys have been carried out in 1998, 2001, 2006, 2012 and 2016.
Composite data are available to customers from the Household Budget Surveys of 1985, 1990, 1994–96, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2012 and 2016 (PX-WEB database). Statistics Finland can compile statistics to customer requirements from the data.
Data content
The Household Budget Survey contains data describing households’ use of money for diverse purposes, such as food or transport, during one year. There is also plenty of information about the structures and activities of households, housing conditions and income. Data are available as a separate files on a) the amounts of food bought home, b) distance from home to separate services, c) greenhouse gas emissions from the consumption of households and d) the benefit gained from the use of social services.
The produced statistics are public but the basic data from the survey are confidential. The data system generates a data set of unidentifiable data whose use is subject to a separate permission.
Classifications used
Consumption expenditure is classified according to the national COICOP-HBS classification (around 900 headings). The main consumption groups are food, drinks and tobacco, clothing and footwear, housing and energy, domestic furnishings and appliances, health, transport, telecommunications, culture and leisure, education, hotels, restaurants and cafes and miscellaneous goods and services.
Statistical data on household consumption expenditure are available according to regional divisions (e.g. NUTS 2), size and structure of household, income bracket classifications, and by socio-economic group and age of reference person.
Data collection methods and data sources
The survey is a sample survey whose population in 2016 comprised 3 673 households. The data are collected with interviews, diaries and purchase receipts kept by households, and from administrative registers. Information is collected with interviews about the household’s background data, its ownership and purchasing of durable goods, residential costs etc. After the interview, the households keep a diary about their consumption expenditure and retain receipts on their purchases for a fortnight. The data on education and income are derived from registers.
Data collections
Updating frequency
The next data collection is due in 2020 or 2021.
Time of completion or release
Preliminary data will be published approximately twelve months from the end of the statistical reference year. For example, preliminary data from the Household Budget Survey of 2016 was published in 28th December 2017 and database tables in March 2018.
Time series
The data were collected for the first time in 1966. Since then the survey has been conducted in 1971, 1976, 1981, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2012 and 2016. Time series containing comparable data have been produced from the surveys between 1966 and 1990, and between 1985 and 2016.
Keywords
consumer durables, consumption, consumption expenditure, cost of living, expenditure, Household Budget Survey, households, housing, income, living conditions, public welfare services, socio-economic group, use of money
Contact information
http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/ktutk/yht_en.html
Last updated 03.09.2020