Samoa Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2008

The purpose of the HIES survey is to obtain information on the income, consumption pattern and incidences of poverty for different groups of people in Samoa. This information will be used to guide policy makers in framing socio-economic developmental policies and in initiating financial measures for improving economic conditions of the people.

Some more specific outputs from the survey includes:

obtaining expenditure weights and other useful data for the revision of the consumer price index;
supplementing the data available for use in compiling official estimates of household accounts in the systems of national accounts;
supplying basic data needed for policy making in connection with social and economic planning;
providing data for assessing the impact on household living conditions of existing or proposed economic and social measures, particularly changes in the structure of household expenditures and in household consumption;
gathering information on poverty lines and incidence of poverty throughout Samoa

V01 contains the final data for achieving and future use, which was also used for tabulation.

HOUSEHOLD - includes household composition (number of males & females), household characteristics (age, relationship to household head, marital status, education level completed, main daily activity), dwelling characteristics of the main house, household possessions, dwelling tenure, construction & improvements of dwellings, household bills, tranport expenses, acquisition of durables, education & recreation, medical & health services, overseas events and special events.

INDIVIDUAL (15 years and above) - reported wages & salary, income recieved from self employed & other business activities, previous jobs, pension & welfare benefits, other sources of income, loans paid information and amount paid for any contribution to benefit schemes.

DIARY - recording of items bought (on credit & cash) by each selected household over a 2 week period, recording of home grown/ produced items, recording of cash and purchased items received and given as gifts, and recording of winnings (cash and in kind) from gambling, including sports.

* Collection start: 2008
* Collection end: 2008