Culture, Media and Time Use

Time Use Survey

The Time Use Survey is an extensive interview survey, where the participants keep accurate diaries on their time use during to entire days. The survey examines the time used for work, household work, sleeping and leisure activities, location and with whom the time is spent. The use of diaries allows studying the daily rhythm and the pace of time use according to the day of the week and season.

The Time Use Survey has been carried out three times. The first survey was made in autumn 1979 and the next one in 1987/1988. The latest survey, 1999/2000, is part of the European Time Use Survey harmonised under the direction of Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. The first two surveys were based on individual samples. In the newest survey the data were collected from all over 10-year-old members of the household. Household samples also allow study of intra-household time usey. The material contains more than 10,000 survey days.

The primary and secondary activities as recorded by the respondents themselves were coded according to a 185-category activity classification (pdf file). The diary data also cover the time spent together and the location of activity (pdf file). Background variables for time use data included e.g. sex, age, stage of life, socio-economic group, province, season and day of the week.

In addition to Statistics Finland, the data collection for the 1999/2000 survey was financed by the Ministries of Education, Labour, Transport and Communications, and Agriculture and Forestry, and Finnish Broadcasting Company, National Consumer Research Centre, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES), and Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA).

Time Use Survey publications

Statistical information about Time Use on StatFin Online-service:

Time Use (26 categories) in autumn 1979, 1988 and 2000

Time Use (26 categories) by labour market position in 1987-1988 and 1999-2000

Time Use (26 categories) by stage in family cycle in 1987-1988 and 1999-2000

Time Use (82 categories) by gender in 1987-1988 and 1999-2000

Time Use (82 categories) by age in 1987-1988 and 1999-2000

Time Use (132 categories) in 1999-2000

Contact information

Updated 1.12.2003