Household Budget Survey (HBS)
Expenditure on housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels along with expenditure on food and non-alcoholic beverages made the largest part of all consumption expenditure of Czech households in 2022. Households paid on average for food about CZK 2 670 a month, the biggest part of which was for meat. CZK 300 was spent on alcoholic beverages on average every month; for non-alcoholic beverages it was CZK 260. How do we know that? Because it was you who told us so!
About the survey
The Household Budget Survey (HBS) monitors expenditure and provides information on its value and on the structure of consumption expenditure of private households based on data provided by them. The survey has a long tradition in the Czech Republic because the first such survey was carried out already in 1920 and since 1957 it has been conducted on a systematic and continual basis. From 2017 on, only households which were randomly selected for the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) can be interviewed in the HBS. The HBS is a year-round survey conducted in all Regions of the Czech Republic.
What do the results serve for?
Information from the HBS mainly serves as a basis for assessment of the social and economic situation of the population of the Czech Republic. It is also indispensable for creation of the so-called consumer basket the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO) uses for calculating the consumer price index, the so-called inflation, and it is also one of the data sources for the national accounts estimates concerning the household sector (part of the GDP resources). The results allow international comparison.
How does the survey take place?
A private household which has been successfully interviewed in the last EU-SILC is the survey unit. Over 3 000 households participate in the HBS every year; they receive fixed reference periods, which are distributed evenly throughout the year so that expenditure seasonality is captured in the best possible way. The focus of the survey is on expenditure of all members of the surveyed household in the reference period, which is supplemented with household composition data, data on housing, household durables, and farming.
Households receive from a CZSO’s interviewer a diary, where they record data on expenditure of all household members. The diary also contains plastic envelopes where the household, to substantially save its time and energy, can collect receipts for all their expenditure. Receipts can relate to a variety of transactions and items, such as individual purchases at stores, money spent at restaurants and the like, transport tickets, admission tickets to cultural events, or payments for training/workshops or other documents from which, however, it has to be clear to what goods or services they pertain. In the absence of receipts (or their copies) the expenditure is recorded in the paper diary forms manually.
During his/her first visit to the household, an interviewer leads an initial interview during which he/she updates the data from the previous EU-SILC and adds some additional information about the household. Afterwards, he/she hands two printed diaries over to the household so that the household members can record details of their expenditure chronologically and keep receipts for the period of 8 successive calendar weeks in the envelopes.
During the second visit, after the first reference period lasting four weeks elapses, the interviewer collects the first diary from the household, checks readability of inserted receipts, and asks about completeness of the records about the expenditure. At the same time, he/she answers possible questions and explains what is unclear to the household.
During the third visit, after the second four-week reference period is finished, the interviewer proceeds analogically. He/she collects the second diary and if needed gathers additional information about problematic items of the first diary or receipts.
For participation of a household in the HBS, there is a financial reward. The remuneration is paid based on a contract concluded with the CZSO. The household receives CZK 2 550 after taxation for two properly completed, duly kept, and submitted diaries. The interviewer informs the household during his/her third visit about the date of the remuneration payment and asks whether they would like to get information on their expenditure structure. Finally, he/she thanks all the household members for participation in the survey.
Where can you find the survey results?
The CZSO regularly publishes results of the HBS on its website in the publication Household Consumption Expenditures. Latest data for the year 2022 are available here:
https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/household-consumption-expenditures-2022
Tables in the Public database of the CZSO are another source:
https://vdb.czso.cz/vdbvo2/faces/en/index.jsf?page=statistiky#katalog=30847
The most interesting information is summarised in articles in the Statistika & My magazine of the CZSO (in English the title of the magazine reads: Statistics & Us):
https://www.statistikaamy.cz/statistiky/socialni-statistiky-a-kultura/ (Czech only)
Data confidentiality and protection
Information that you tell the interviewer is strictly anonymous. The CZSO fully respects the European legal framework for personal data protection (GDPR) and acts in compliance with it. Moreover, all employees of the CZSO are sworn to secrecy about all surveyed facts pursuant to the Act No 89/1995 Sb, on the State Statistical Service. No piece of information that would identify interviewed respondents enters the processing itself. Information from the survey is published solely in the form of statistical summaries.
Detailed information on personal data processing can be found at:
https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/personal-data-protection-gdpr
