The Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) report will be published by March next year as the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is going to complete its year-long data collection on Saturday, officials said.
The BBS is collecting data for the 17th HIES survey 2022 through a computerised system (CAPI) for ensuring quality survey result aimed at estimating absolute poverty and other income and expenditure data of Bangladeshi population.
"Our enumerators will complete its data collection on December 31. Then we will compile the data and finalise a preliminary report in March next year," said Mohiuddin Ahmed, Director of the HIES 2020-21 project, on Thursday.
The BBS started data collection from 14,400 households (HH) of 720 sampling areas across the country in January 1, 2022, which continues for one year upto December 31, he said.
The last HIES report was published in 2016 where Bangladesh poverty rate was estimated at 24.3 and the hardcore poor was 12.9 per cent of the total population.
"We are taking answer of a household of nearly 140 questions in 10 broad categories. An enumerator will collect data from a HH unit attending there for 10 occasions in 20 days. Then a real picture of income and expenditure will be reflected through the data system," Mr Mohiuddin told journalists when they were visiting a data collection system at Rupganj in Narayanganj distirct on Thursday.
According to the BBS officials, they collect income and expenditure information of a family on some 265 food items and 441 non-food items across the year.
The BBS this time has added one new section called "food security" in addition to nine previous ones in the data collection questioner in a bid to ensure more accuracy in the HIES survey.
In the nine sections, the BBS collect data on household information; education; health; economic activities and salary or wage-based employment; non-agri institutions; house related information; agriculture; other assets and income; consumed food, non-food and services, and food security.
The HIES survey will also provide some social data, income and wealth distribution, some social indictors like education and health, and many others.
Mr Mohiuddin said since the population censues was conducted this year and the HIES survey would use the data of the census, quality data of the income and expenditure of all Bangladeshi citizens could be expected this time.
Following the Covid-19 impact and other domestic and global phenomenon, the upcoming HIES data will be very much helpful for the policy makers and researchers for undertaking future development policy of the country, he added.
Bangladesh estimates its poverty rate on the "Cost of Basic Needs (CBN)" method. If a person can consume 2,122 kilo-calorie per day through his/her income then he is treated as non-poor.
