1. Presentation of the EHS project
EUROSTAT –Unit F3 Living conditions and social protection statistics
Presentation of the EHS project
Two main long term regular households/individuals surveys have been put in place at Community level, for specific purposes linked to the Union’s policies: LFS focusing on employment and SILC focusing on income and living conditions. Both surveys offer an annual possibility of specific ad-hoc modules, allowing for a limited number of additional variables to be collected, providing these variables are related to the main purpose of the surveys.
Other general population data collections either have been, are being or will be established with greater or lesser degrees of harmonisation at EU level, like the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) household survey, the Adult Education Survey (AES), the Household Budget Survey (HBS), the Time Use Survey (TUS) and the Health Interview Survey (EHIS). Two of these data collections (HBS and TUS) have already existed for some time, but most of them have been recently implemented (ICT) or they are still in a development phase (AES, EHIS).
At the same time, requests for new data collections are emerging and it is likely that they will increase in the future.
There is consequently a need to look at possibilities to rationalise the data collection system and at the same time to create a flexible tool to quickly answer to new policy demands or existing policy demands which are not yet fulfilled. This is the reason why Eurostat has been, since 2005, working on the development of a new instrument, the EHS (European Household Survey or European System of Social Statistical Survey Modules). The system should have flexibility as a key characteristic aiming at improving timeliness and responsiveness.
Several Commission DGs (in particular DG EMPL, SANCO, EAC, JLS) have already expressed a strong interest for this project. 1

2. In a nutshell… EHS = European Household Survey
= European System of Social Statistical Survey Modules
A system of social statistical modules
designed for individual interviews
Two objectives:
To rationalize existing and future household surveys (Information and Communication Technologies Survey, Adult education survey…)
To increase flexibility and timely response to user needs (through ad-hoc modules)
Providing a coherent overall design structure for social statistics

3. Composition of EHS: Regular modules:
core variables module 10’ (annual)
 and a module corresponding to the current full ICT household survey 20’ (annual) [information and communication technologies]
EHIS mini-module 15’ (annual) [health]
the AES modules 35’(5-year survey) + possibly other (-year surveys [education]
Irregular (one-off) modules (short-term and long-term) to answer new policy Commission needs (NCN) 15-35’
Core variables: 16 variables to be systematically included in the surveys carried out in the social field
EHIS minimodule –previously called EHIS-BI (biennial indicators): 21 indicators developed by the Technical Group Health and EHIS and presented in June 2007 (no change done).
List available on circa (document Tech-HIS/2007/5.4-2)

4. The EU recommended schema: basic requirements
Maximum average interview duration: 45 min
EU-27 sample of 337,500 persons aged 15+ (current working hypothesis) living in private households
Minimum achieved sample size of each module: 135,000 interviews (over a 2-year period for the EHIS minimodule and possible for some NCN)
Systematic inclusion of the core variables module
Special populations (elderly people, disabled people, young people, women ….) are considered for some NCN modules
The EU recommended schema is only a proposal (flexibility principle)

5. The schema proposal (February 2008)

6. Nota:
The 3 subsamples are independent
flexibility in term of sample sizes, and, for the 3rd subsample, there is a possibility to work on special populations (disabled people, elderly people…) – feasibility study in progress (mainly sampling and cost issues)
Possibility to include the comprehensive EHIS later on in this structure (instead of a NCN L) feasibility to be further discussed
No NCNL in 2010
(gradual implementation)

7. Short NCN modules: main characteristics (1)
Whole sample size (EU27): 135,000
Maximum average duration: 15’
Sample size allocaiton (provisional, to be discussed during the EHS TF meeting on 1-2 July)

8. Country
Sample
Sampling rate
AT Austria
4,195
0.599
BE Belgium
4,492
0.511
BG Bulgaria
4,133
0.622
CY Cyprus
2,895
4.531
CZ Czech Republic
4,496
0.510
DE Germany
10,493
0.148
DK Denmark
3,725
0.840
EE Estonia
3,018
2.641
ES Spain
7,906
0.208
FI Finland
3,714
0.849
FR France
9,068
0.176
GR Greece
4,618
0.482
HU Hungary
4,452
0.521
IE Ireland
3,526
1.026
IT Italy
9,002
0.177
LT Lithuania
3,403
1.195
LU Luxemburg
2,832
7.281
LV Latvia
3,209
1.635
MT Malta
2,819
8.299
NL Netherland
5,183
0.387
PL Poland
7,345
0.229
PT Portugal
4,520
0.504
RO Romania
5,821
0.319
SE Sweden
4,291
0.567
SI Slovenia
3,156
1.825
SK Slovakia
3,742
0.827
∑fi
135,000
0.324

9. Short NCN modules: main characteristics (2)
For countries which will adopt the proposed schema:
One questionnaire with
{core variables+ ICT variables + NCN variables}
 Carried out only during the 2nd quarter (April/June)
Possible shortcoming: seasonal effect to be tackled…
Important asset: results available at the end of the year of the data collection

10. NCN modules considered 2010-2012
Culture (2010/2011)→ short NCN module on cultural participation & intercultural dialogue (DG EAC)
Consumer protection (2010/2011) → short module on consumer empowerment (DG SANCO)
EDSIM (2012) → long module on disabilities (DG EMPL)
Currently: contacts with DG EMPL in order to check if EDSIM is appropriate to fulfil their needs

11. Next steps
Discussion in the EHS Task Force meetings planned for July and autumn 2008
the objectives are to take final decisions on the EU recommended schema, to evaluate the results of the pilot data collection and to make a concrete proposal for all modules to be included in 2010 and 2011
Discussion in SDG on July, 3, 2008
Presentation to the DSS in September 2008 for opinion
Presentation to the SPC in September 2008 for information
Decision taken on implementation in the SPC meeting of February 2009 (following Eurostat Directors meeting opinion at the end of November 2008).
SDG= strategic development group (TF of a reduced number of DSS, chaired by Eurostat)
DSS September 2008: adoption of the schema and of themes of NCN for 2010 (maybe 2011)