Household Budget Survey (HBS)

• Press release
• Methodology
• Detailed HBS

Description

The Household Budget Survey (HBS) allows us to ascertain the consumption expenditure of households residing in Spain, as well as the distribution of said expenditure among the different consumption divisions.

The HBS, published annually and including nearly 24,000 dwellings in its sample, provides information that is essential for estimating for the National Accounts the household expenditure on consumption, and for updating the Consumer Price Index (CPI) weightings.

The consumption expenditure that is recorded in the HBS refers both to the monetary flow that the houshold pays for certain final consumption goods and services, and to the value of certain non-monetary household consumption. Among the latter, it is appropriate to indicate the rent of owned dwellings (that is, the estimated rent of the dwelling owned by or granted to the household and in which the household resides), the salary in kind, the free or subsidised food or restaurant checks at the workplace, or the consumption originating from the production for their own final consumption (garden, farm, factory, workshop, or those taken from one's own shop).

Sample

The HBS obtains its information by means of a personal interview with nearly 24,000 randomly selected households that cooperate for two consecutive weeks in each of the two years in which they are part of the sample.

HBS Link

The HBS is a susbstitute of the Household Budget Continuous Survey (HBCS), which was in force from 1997 to 2005, including different methodological improvements, such as the change in periodicity (from quarterly to annually) or the importance increase in the size of the sample (to 24,000 dwellings).

Therefore, comparisons with previous data obtained from the prior survey should be made using linking methods. The series links can be consulted on the INE website.

• Press release
• Methodology
• Detailed HBS