1. Meeting of the Directors of Social Statistics BECH Building – Room Quetelet
Data availability on the number of households to estimate consumption unit aggregates
21/3/2012

2. Background
SpG on "Measuring Progress, Wellbeing and Sustainable Development"
TF « Household perspective »
Final report adopted by ESSC in Nov 2011
National Accounts data on household income and consumption: by consumption unit
Eurostat-OECD Expert Group on Disparities in the National Accounts framework: a supra- and a multi-national exercise
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3. Identified needs
Need for a denominator for NA income and consumption aggregates featuring the number of consumption units
Using equivalence scale: combination of the number of households and population figures
Illustration with OECD modified scale:
#CU = (#HH *0.5)+(#adults *0.5)+(#children *0.3)
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Meeting of the Directors of Social Statistics 3

4. Preliminary analysis Analyse data availability for consumption units
Explore possible options to obtain required #
Consider available data sources
First results:
Differences in #hh according to data sources
Need for further clarifications
Different definitions across data sources
But also MS implementation of definitions, sampling and fieldwork characteristics, calibration techniques
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Meeting of the Directors of Social Statistics 4

5. The way forward
Preliminary analysis stimulated reflection on possible reasons for discrepancies
Need to understand better the implementation of the definitions and the sources of discrepancies
Collaboration with Member States is needed
Directors of Macro Economic Statistics (DMES) will also be informed of this issue (28 March)
Final goal: find the most appropriate estimation for the calculation of consumption units
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Meeting of the Directors of Social Statistics 5

6. Directors of Social Statistics are invited
To take note of:
the ongoing work on consumption unit aggregates
its importance in the framework of the report by SpG on "Measuring Progress, Wellbeing and Sustainable Development"
To agree on the desirability of better understanding:
actual implementation of the different hh definitions
its impact on aggregated data
To agree to cooperate with Eurostat in order to meet this goal (Eurostat will contact MS)
21/3/2012
Meeting of the Directors of Social Statistics