The Household Expenditure Survey (HES) is conducted once every five years since 1972/73. This is the ninth HES conducted by the Singapore Department of Statistics (DOS).

The HES collects detailed information on households’ expenditure and data on demographic and socio-economic characteristics as well as ownership of consumer durables. It is carried out over 12 months from October 2007 to October 2008 to cover all festive seasons.

Surveys of similar nature are conducted in other parts of the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Objective and Importance

One of the main objectives of conducting the HES is to update the weighting pattern and the basket of goods and services for the compilation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The CPI measures the price changes of a fixed basket of selected consumer goods and services commonly purchased by Singaporean households. It is commonly used as one of the indicators of inflation in Singapore. Trade unions and employers often use the CPI in wage negotiations and salary adjustments.

Consumers’ lifestyle and spending habits change over time. Therefore, the weighting pattern (relative importance of item) of the CPI needs to be reviewed periodically to reflect up-to-date spending pattern.

Data collected would also be used by government agencies and private sector organizations for analysis of household consumption expenditure patterns and changes in the last five years.  The report for the previous survey conducted in 2002/03 is available in DOS’s website for free downloading.

Sample Selection

Households covered in the HES are selected using established sampling method to ensure representativeness of the sample. Each household’s participation in the HES is crucial to ensure that representative data are collected.

A sample of 11,000 dwelling units is selected based on DOS's standard sampling methodology which is a two-stage stratified design. The primary sampling units for the first stage consist of Sampling Divisions (SD), which are geographical locations based on planning areas used by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore.  The dwelling units are the sampling units in the second stage of selection. This sample design ensures that the selected sample is of equal probability and self-weighting. The selected sample is also representative of the national dwelling type distribution.

Conduct of the HES

Each household selected for the HES will receive a notification letter, informing the household that it has been selected for the HES. Data for the HES is collected through face-to-face interviews and recording of expenditure record books. Field interviewers will visit the selected households to collect the required data and assist in the recording.      

Interviewers conducting the HES will carry an official ID card and a Letter of Authorisation issued by the Department for authentication purposes. Calls can be made, where necessary, to the HES toll-free hotline at 1800-HES0708 (1800-4370708) from Mondays to Sundays, 8.30am to 10pm, to verify the interviewer’s identity.

For HES 2007/08, instead of the traditional paper forms, field interviewers will be using Personal Digital Assistant (PDAs) to facilitate their face-to-face interviews with households. The PDA is used for the first time for HES in Singapore. It is expected to bring about savings in time and efforts as data entry and validation of key data are carried out in the field.

Information Required

During the survey, household members aged 14 years and over are required to record their daily and regular expenditure in specially designed diaries for 14 days. Detailed descriptions are required to be recorded (e.g. “cabbage” instead of “vegetables”, “pomfret” instead of “fish”, “chicken rice” instead of “lunch”, “MRT”, “bus” or “taxi” instead of “transport”), together with the payments made, whether in cash, cheque, credit card, NETS, GIRO etc.

Our field interviewers will also collect additional information on:

Legal Authority and Confidentiality

The information provided by respondents is safeguarded by the Statistics Act (Chapter 317) and will be kept in the strictest confidence.

Data collected in the HES will be used only to compile statistics and published at an aggregated level. Individual information will not be disclosed.

All survey officers are required to sign an undertaking to safeguard individual information under the Statistics Act.