The Economically Active Population Survey (EAPS) is a continuous quarterly survey that targets households, and it's main objective is to obtain data on the labour force (which is subcategorized by employed and unemployed), and on the people outside the labour market. The theoretical sample varies from 65.000 households per quarter, to approx. 60.000 actually interviewed households, which implies approximately 180.000 people.

The methodology of the survey is modified in 2005 due to various reasons: the need for it to adapt to the new demographic and labour reality of our country, due mainly to the increase in the number of foreign residents; the incorporation of new European regulations in accordance with the norms of the European Union Statistical Office (EUROSTAT); and finally, the introduction of improvements in the collection method.

Finally, the population base used as of the first quarter of 2005 (population base of the 2001 census) is the same as that used to calculate the 1996-2004 series (revised on March 30th 2005), thus guaranteeing the continuity of the series.

Eurostat's website is the information source for European data where further information can be found through the theme Population and social conditions