Households spent 1,569.33 KM monthly in 2011

The Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with entity statistical institutes, will conduct the fourth Household Consumption Survey in BiH in 2015, reports news agency Patria.

The survey will be conducted in the field throughout 2015 on a representative sample of approximately 7,500 randomly selected households from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The selected households are divided into monthly samples, and their interviewing will be carried out by accredited interviewers and supervisors from statistical institutions. For the purposes of the Survey, 71 interviewers and 20 supervisors have already been engaged, who began fieldwork yesterday (Monday, December 29, 2014), with the aim of making initial contacts with households in the sample for January 2015 and distributing survey questionnaires. Fieldwork will be completed in January 2016, when households from the sample for December 2015 will be interviewed.

The main goal and purpose of the Household Consumption Survey is to obtain data on the size and structure of household consumption in BiH, basic demographic and socio-economic characteristics of their members, housing conditions, sources and amount of income, investments, social inclusion, health, and the like.

To obtain a complete picture of household consumption, the survey collects data on expenditures for food and beverages, housing, furniture, clothing and footwear, health, transport, communications, recreation, culture and education, other goods and services, as well as information on household members (relationship to household head, age, marital status, education, activity status, field of activity), and data on housing characteristics, sources and amount of income, investments, social inclusion, health, and the like.

The aforementioned results will serve as a basis for quality creation and implementation of socio-economic policies at all levels of social organization. In addition, the Survey results will be used for professional, statistical purposes to calculate the consumer price index as a measure of inflation in the country and to calculate gross domestic product using the expenditure method, as well as for academic purposes.

Household consumption surveys are conducted every four years, in accordance with international standards and methodological recommendations of EUROSTAT, which enables international comparability of data. The Household Consumption Survey was conducted for the first time in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2004, then in 2007, and most recently in 2011.

The data obtained from the Survey are presented in aggregated form, thus fully ensuring the confidentiality of personal data on households and individuals in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Statistics of BiH. The Agency for Statistics of BiH asks citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina to participate in the Survey, trust the interviewers, and contribute to the quality of the results.

Some data from 2011

In 2011, households spent an average of 1,569.33 KM per month on final consumption. The largest shares in average monthly household consumption were food and beverages (32.6%) and housing, electricity, gas and other energy sources (24.0%).

Housing accounted for 15.1% of total consumption, while water, energy, gas and other utility expenditures accounted for 8.9%. A large portion of expenditures also went to transport (11.0%), which includes the purchase and use of vehicles, as well as passenger transport services.

Of the total population in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 17.9% lived in relative poverty. Every sixth household in the country was poor. The relative poverty line was 416.40 KM per month per equivalent adult.