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7. Survey methods

An updated method was employed to carry out the wealth survey. Register data on such property as dwellings, shares and vehicles were linked to households in the sample of income distribution statistics. Such property was mainly priced based on market prices. In earlier years, wealth data for the survey were collected by interviewing households. No register data are available for statistical use on all types of wealth, and as a consequence, it was necessary to resort to various estimation methods. Data on deposits, for example, were formed by a modelling process utilising interview data from the household wealth survey of 2004. The wealth values used in the estimation were scaled to correspond to the change between the years 2004 and 2009, using the change percentage of households’ stock of deposits obtained from Statistic Finland’s financial accounts.

Due to the methodological change, the comparability of the statistics varies by wealth item. For example, the values of unlisted shares were obtained using a calculation method that is not comparable with data from earlier years.

In comparisons of time series, wealth values have been converted to the 2009 price level based on the consumer price index.

The age group classification was based on the age of the reference person. The person with the highest personal income is selected as the reference person of the household. Personal income was defined according to register data and interview data.

The number of households in the sample is 10,989, which corresponds to 2,531,500 households in the entire country.

Source: Households' assets

Inquiries: Markku Säylä (09) 1734 3410, Veli-Matti Törmälehto (09) 1734 3680

Director in charge: Riitta Harala

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Updated 21.12.2011