The scope of the 2011 Tonga Census of Population and Housing includes:
- HOUSEHOLD: Household listing, dwelling characteristics, housing utilities, durable goods, information technology, income, remittances, and mortality.
- INDIVIDUAL: Personal characteristics, migration, disability, smoking habit, education, labour force and employment, voting eligibility, and fertility
- HOUSEHOLD: dwelling characteristics, source of water, energy, cooking fuel, commodities owned, expenditure, income;
- INDIVIDUAL: demographic characteristics, economic activity, education, health, expenditure, income.
The Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) is a field operation which consists of collecting information in the households based on face to face interview.
The questions asked to the households are related to living standard conditions, expenditures, purchases, incomes.... It is the only survey conducted at a national level which deals with households habits in terms of expenditure and income. As the private and public sector, households represent an economic and social actor of the country which needed to be known.