The median value of the total property of Czech households, which consists of financial and non-financial assets, was CZK 2.6 million in 2021 and CZK 2.9 million in 2022. Of the total property of households, about 88% were non-financial assets, i.e. mainly real estates, transport vehicles, or valuables; the remaining 12% were financial assets. Over three quarters of Czech households stated in the survey that they had no debt. As for households having a debt, the median debt in 2021 was almost CZK 350 thousand; it further increased to CZK 400 thousand in 2022. How do we know that? Because it was you who told us so!
 

About the survey

The CZSO in cooperation with the Czech National Bank (CNB) carries out an annual survey called Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). The survey is concurrently run in countries using the euro currency and some other (volunteer) countries; it is coordinated by the European Central Bank. The resulting data are unique and cannot be obtained in any other way than by interviewing the selected households.
 

What do the results serve for?

The HFCS is aimed at mapping the situation of Czech households in terms of finance and property. The data obtained help construct the combined risk of poverty and social exclusion of households; the prerequisite for this is the indicator of the so-called net wealth. To get the net wealth, one also has to know property estimates (besides household income and expenditure). Additionally, the survey’s results provide a background material for analysing the behaviour of Czech households in relation to what financial market instruments they use, what their overall indebtedness is, what risks they undergo in respect of various loans and credits, and how their property is endangered by credit. The results are used on the national level by both the CNB and the CZSO; internationally, the survey serves the needs of the European Central Bank.
 

How does the survey take place?

Similar to the Household Budget Survey (HBS), in the HFCS only those households are addressed which were successfully interviewed in European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). The HFCS has been taking place in all Regions of the Czech Republic since 2020; about 2 thousand households are visited every year. The CNB presents the participants with an otherwise unavailable gift set of all Czech coins currently in use.
 

Where can you find the survey results?

The CZSO publishes results of the HFCS on its website in the publication called in Czech Finanční situace domácností (in English the title reads: Financial situation of households). The first publication for the years 2021 and 2022 is available here: https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/financni-situace-domacnosti-2021-a-2022 (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