PSA conducts Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2023-2024

Today, the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) announced at its premises the launch of the field phase of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), which is being implemented at the state level, and for which the data collection process will continue for a full year, starting from February 2023.HIES is considered one of the large and most important surveys that provides a series of significant socio-economic data on living conditions and standards in Qatar. This survey provides important and accurate statistical data on the consumption patterns of Qatari and non-Qatari households and the percentage distribution of spending on goods and services to be used in calculating cost-of-living indices.Besides, HIES aims to calculate the average income and expenditure of individuals and households on various expenditure items from different sources, while linking them to the affecting factors such as educational level, occupation, and economic activity, along with the impact of demographic, social and economic factors on the household. It is also of great importance in providing indicators of monthly income and expenditure of the household and individual, estimating the size of the current demand for goods and services, and helping predict the future needs of the population for goods and services.HE President of Planning and Statistics Authority Dr Saleh bin Mohammed Al Nabit said: "Based on its mission of conducting, organising and supervising official statistical processes, and implementing various censuses and surveys, PSA will conduct a sample survey of the characteristics and nature of household income and expenditure in Qatar, with approximately 5,000 Qatari and non-Qatari families participating in this survey".He added in a press conference today that, as part of PSA's preparations to start the data collection, workers in the project started this week to receive training on the statistical and field aspects of the project, and they will be trained on technical aspects during Sunday and Monday of next week.The survey questionnaire will be completed electronically, and the researchers will be provided with sufficient devices to collect data, he added pointing that participating families can opt to complete the questionnaire online without a physical visit by the researchers.HE Dr Al Nabit underlined that the HIES is one of the important surveys that provide a series of accurate economic and social data on living conditions and standards in Qatar, to help in objectively study the economic and social conditions in Qatari society.He asserted that pursuant to the Amiri decision No. 2 of 2011, all data collected will be treated with strict confidentiality and will only be used for the purposes of the survey and statistical study, calling upon all citizens and residents to fully cooperate with field researchers and provide them with detailed and accurate information.These data and statistics help find out, objectively, the economic and social conditions in the Qatari society, including an attempt to closely monitor the spending and consumption patterns of Qatari and non-Qatari households, the purchasing power of household income, the standard of living, as well as the composition of the purchase basket of the Qatari consumer.In this vein, PSA organised a training programme for researchers and field supervisors that includes a set of main themes, namely, the project's implementation timeline, the duties of workers, the fieldwork mechanism, the instructions and definitions used in the survey, in addition to how to record data in the expenditure book that will be distributed to households.This also includes an explanation of the survey form and a clarification of the survey methodology that is based on visits conducted by a number of male and female researchers, who are divided into field work groups, to selected households in the survey sample and collection of the required data from them through the survey records.It is noteworthy that this 7th state-level national survey is one of the household surveys incorporated in PSA's plan, and is being carried out periodically every five years, where it was last implemented during 2017-2018.