Household Budget Survey 2002-2003

Kosovo Agency of Statistics (formerly known as Statistical Office of Kosovo) has been conducting Household Budget Survey since 2002. The HBS has become a core survey in Kosovo's efforts to build a long-term monitoring and evaluation system of poverty rates and living standards in the country. Collection of data from households is done by Kosovo Agency of Statistics employees through its regional offices. Financial and professional support for the development of HBS was provided by the International Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the World Bank.

Data collected through HBS provide information on living standards, consumption and expenditure of families, and households' socio-economic characteristics. One of the objectives of Household Budget Survey is to obtain necessary data for assessing the weight used to calculate the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Also, this survey provides data that will be used as an input for the measurement of private consumption in the National Accounts (NA) of families, as well as for analysis of welfare and poverty at the country level within the specified timeframe.

The first survey of household budgets was implemented from June 2002 until May 2003. This survey was continuance of a World Bank survey about monitoring of welfare and poverty (AMSJ). HBS 2002-2003 consisted of 2,400 households; 960 were from rural, and 1,440 from urban regions. The households were selected from 300 registered districts. The reference period was one month for nondurable and semi-durable goods, and 12 months for durable goods.