/ EUROPEAN COMMISSION
EUROSTAT
Directorate F: Social Statistics and Information Society
Unit F-3: Living conditions and social protection /

Doc. HBS/160/06/EN

Meeting of theWorking Group on

Living Conditions

(HBS, EU-SILC and IPSE)

15-16May 2006

Eurostat-Luxembourg

Follow up of data collection
for the HBS round 2005

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.Introduction

2.Data collection management

2.1.Planning

2.2.Data transmission procedure

3.Specifications for the HBS 2005

3.1.Documentation library

3.2.Update of the methodological recommendations

3.2.1.Imputed rent for dwelling services

3.3.Proposed formats and variable list for data transmission

1.Introduction

The Working Group (WG) on Household Budget Surveys (HBS) was created by a decision of the DGINS conference on 29.11-1.12.1989. The aim was to compile the existing information in the Member States (MS) of the European Union on household budgets in order to make all this information available at European level as well as to improve harmonisation of surveys, in terms of concepts used, classification of variables, data collection and data processing methods.

So far, this project has not had any legal basis and therefore it is run as a “gentlemen’s agreement” among the MS, the Candidate Countries (CC), some EFTA countries and Eurostat. Essentially, each country keeps the targets, the uses and the programming of its national HBS and, at the same time, it collaborated with Eurostat in order to compile a European-wide data set on household budgets with a frequency of about 5 years[1]. The approach of this statistic is cross-sectional rather than longitudinal.

During the HBS working party held on 01-02 October 2001 in Luxembourg, it was decided to program a new round of HBS data collection for the reference year 2005. All MemberStates and some Candidate Countries have confirmed their participation in this new exercise.

The HBS working party held on 05-06 May 2003 and the meeting of the Directors of Social Statistics held on 7-8 April 2003 in Luxembourgset up the main guidelines for this data collection exercise.The main changes of the round 2005 compared to the previous ones are:

  • Many more countries will participate.
  • New recommendations and a simplified list of variables are a step forward for a better harmonisation.
  • Each country will be allowed to choose between transmitting their HBS data as micro-data or as aggregated tables. The intentions communicated by the Member States is that twenty one have opted for micro-data and only four (CZ, MT, PL and PT) for aggregated tables.
  • Micro-data transmission will be simplified by using a single standardised data file made from household records. Required information about household members will be included as household attributes. On the other hand, this involves that many derived variables will need to be calculated by the NSIs during the compilation of the information to be transmitted.

The purpose of this document is to follow the progress of the data collection exercise for the reference year 2005, as well as to serve as a short reference to the most important information about it.

2.Data collection management

2.1.Planning

For the HBS round 2005, two main types of information will be collected:

  • Statistical data
  • Metadata (includes survey profiles, methodological information and data for quality reports)

The dates communicated by the countries so far are the following:

In consequence, the consolidated data cycle foreseen by Eurostat for the HBS round of 2005 is the following:

(1) Data collection by NSI

As a general rule with some exceptions, surveys are being carried out during the calendar year 2005. However the first country has started to collect data on mid-2003 and the last will finish at the end of 2006,

(2) Data processing by NSI

From January 2006 until December 2006

(3) Data transmission to Eurostat

From July 2006 until December 2007

Due to the different timing of each country and resource constraints within Eurostat, it is not possible to process the data of all countries simultaneously. For this reason, data reception by Eurostat will be spread over a period of about 18 months.

(4) Data processing by Eurostat

From July 2006 until March 2008

(5) Dissemination on NewCronos

Partial dissemination by July 2007

Total dissemination by April 2008

(6) Data exploitation by Eurostat

Publications:

First publications will be issued during 2007 (one “SiF” and one “Panorama of the EU”)

Other SiFs will follow during 2008

Ad-hoc requests:

Continuously after the first data will become available

The cycle for metadata will be the following:

(1) Delivery of essential metadata for harmonisation to Eurostat

From July 2006 until December 2007

Essential metadata is required for data processing by Eurostat. Since a standard data transmission format has been specified for this round, this information is to be quite limited (basically a file list as well as some notes about non-available variables and other non-conformities with Eurostat specifications). These metadata will be delivered at the same time of data transmission.

(2) Delivery of detailed methodological information to Eurostat

From July 2006 until June 2007

This information is required for updating the HBS methodology by Eurostat.

(3) Preparation and publication of a new issue of “HBS in the EU. Methodology and recommendations for harmonisation” by Eurostat (update of HBS methodology)

From January 2007 until December 2007

(4) Update of SDDS files on NewCronos by Eurostat

June 2007 (at the same time of first data uploading) and revision in March 2008 (after the final data uploading and the update of the HBS methodology)

(5) Delivery of quality information to Eurostat

From July 2006 until December 2007

(6) Elaboration of a quality report by Eurostat

From January 2008 until December 2008

These two cycles are represented together in the following Gantt chart:

Countries which have not yet communicated the expected dates for the delivery of their information to Eurostat are kindly requested to do so as soon as possible.

2.2.Data transmission procedure

In June 2005, the Directors and Heads of Unit of Eurostat have adopted the principle of a Single Entry Point for data sent to Eurostat; this decision is being implemented in eDAMIS (electronic Data files Administration and Management Information System), the new generation of data transmission tools replacing STADIUM and EDIFLOW applications and integrating GENEDI features.

The main reasons for using a standard secure data transmission tool instead of non secure ad-hoc procedures (e.g. e-mail, postal delivery of physical data media…) are the following:

  • Security and confidentiality of data are much better guaranteed.
  • There will be easier control of data deliveries and versions.
  • Traceability of data will be improved.

Those countries that have not yet implemented eDAMIS are allowed to use a former secure data transmission tools such as STADIUM.

The identification of the dataflow module for HBS on eDAMIS is: "HBS_PAC_N".

Eurostat, in collaboration with the local co-ordinators, will support any NSI which might require it in implementing the secured systems of data transmission for HBS.

The operational management eDAMIS data transmission in Eurostat is assured by the Eurostat unit B-3,"Statistical Information Technologies". The contact person for the local coordinators network is:

Mr Luc DRAPPIER -

Each NSI of Member States has a local coordinator for secure data transmission, who will be in charge of the operational details of data transmission in collaboration with Eurostat. The list of local coordinators may be found in the document: "2005-05-30-List-of-LCs.pdf".

3.Specifications for the HBS 2005

3.1.Documentation library

The main methodological recommendations for the HBS round 2005 are contained in the following documents:

  • HBS/147B/2003 “Results of Task Force on COICOP-HBS”, revised after the HBS working party of 05-06 May 2003.

This document contains a list of improvements of the COICOP-HBS classification to be used as a reference for the HBS round of 2005. The annex of this document contains a full listing of thee new COICOP-HBS classification with comments.

The electronic version of this document is available on-line on HBS-CIRCA ( – Library > Top/Round 2005.

  • HBS/151B/2003 “Update of methodological recommendations for harmonisation for the HBS round 2005”, revised after the HBS working party of 05-06 May 2003.

This document contains the most updated methodological recommendations for harmonisation for the HBS round of 2005.

The electronic version of this document is available on-line on HBS-CIRCA ( – Library > Top/Round 2005.

  • HBS/153E/2003 “Data transmission for the HBS round 2005”, revised three times, one after the HBS working party of 05-06 May 2003, again after detecting a few errors in December 2004 and finally another one after the "Living Conditions" working party of 08-10 June 2005.

This document contains the proposed variable list to be transmitted to Eurostat for the HBS round of 2005, fully commented and including formulas and indication for computing all derived variables. This document attempts to standardise data-files to be transmitted from NSI to Eurostat. The proposed variable list simplifies the previous ones and allows avoiding the transmission of micro data at the level of household members. This new list only contains information at household level. On the other hand, some derived variables must be calculated at the time of compiling the data included in the transmission file.

The most significant changes with regard to the previous version (HBS/153C/2003) are the following:

  • The formulas for calculating the variables HB07.3, HB07.4 and HC23 have been added or amended.
  • The information regarding the proposed format for data transmission has been extended.
  • Since aggregated tables is now an acceptable choice for delivering HBS data to Eurostat, a full new chapter has been added in order to give a complete description of the contents and the format of these tables.

This document contains an Annex: an Excel workbook with a template for building all the aggregated tables specified in this file. This excel file is called "HBS-aggregated tables-2005-country.xls".

Both documents are available on-line on HBS-CIRCA ( – Library > Top/Round 2005.

  • 2006-04-25-List-of-LCs.pdf “List of local coordinators”.

This document gives the names and coordinates of the persons of each NSI in charge of the operational aspects of the secure data transmission using eDAMIS. These are the persons to contact in each NSI in order to carry out the file transmission to Eurostat.

The electronic version of this document is available on-line on HBS-CIRCA ( – Library > Top/Round 2005.

  • HBS/161/2006 “Imputed rent for dwelling services”.

This is a document which analyses and proposes various methods for the calculation of imputed rent for dwelling services depending on the circumstances of each country. Although it was created for the "Living Conditions" working party of June 2005, it has been updated with additional information for the working party of May 2006.

The electronic version of this document is available on-line on HBS-CIRCA ( – Library > Top/Round 2005.

3.2.Update of the methodological recommendations

A summary the main methodological recommendations is contained in the document HBS/151B/2003. However, one recommendation has been updated after the issue of this document in order to give more room for choice to the countries. This recommendation is the following:

3.2.1.Imputed rent for dwelling services

This has been a point of discussion for a long time due to the big difficulties of this topic. The latest version of this recommendation gives bigger freedom to each country for choosing the method of calculation which is best fitted to their circumstances. Anyhow this point is specifically addressed in another document of the working party. The last statement of this recommendation is the following:

For the purpose of valuing the owner-occupied housing services Eurostat recommends applying as far as possible the principles settled by ESA 95 and the Commission Decision of 18 July 1995 (95/309/EC, Euratom). For the countries with small rentals markets, which could have problems for implementing the stratification method, the regression methods(Heckman or hedonic prices) recommended by EU-SILC would also be acceptable.

Exceptionally, those countries with very small rental markets, which may prove that neither stratification nor regression work acceptably well with their data, could supply values collected by means of other methods such as self-evaluation or user costs.

The estimated values are then used to impute the rentals for those households that did not report paying rent (either because they were owner-occupiers or else because their housing was rent-free).

In cases where the household just pay a reduced rent and where this is known for the household the countries can – if possible – also impute the value of the reduction in the rent.

3.3.Proposed formats and variable list for data transmission

Following the conclusions of the working party on 'Living conditions' held in Luxembourg on 8-10 June 2005, Eurostat accepts that HBS data may be transmitted either in the form of micro-data files of in the form of aggregated tables.

The principles which inspired Eurostat proposal about the simplification of the HBS data transmissionare the following:

Eurostat will accept HBS data either in the form of micro-data files or in the form of aggregated tables.

For the countries which have chosen the first format, the recommendation of Eurostat is to interchange detailed anonymised micro-data files with information at household level only and improving the variable list as follows:

  • to add a few new variables, with the conditions that they are really required to satisfy relevant user needs and that they do not overload questionnaires too much;
  • to replace the most relevant individual variables by derived variables at household level, and to eliminate the individual files;
  • to eliminate all non-used variables.

For the countries which have chosen the second format, the recommendation of Eurostat is to interchange the same set of tables currently published on NewCronos with the following improvement:

  • the level of detail of COICOP breakdowns will be increased by one level.

As mentioned before, the new file formats and variable list are explained in detail in the document: HBS/153E/2003 “Data transmission for the HBS round 2005”.Please note that the variable list proposed for the round 2005 has been redefined and the variable list contained in the manual “Household Budget Surveys in the EU: Methodology and recommendations for harmonisation” is only valid for the HBS round 1999.

1

[1] Although several EU and candidate countries conduct annual surveys, this is an international comparison exercise and can only proceed at the pace of the slowest participant.