Family Income/Expenditure Survey Metadata       

1.1 Disseminating agencies: DGBAS
1.2 Data compiling unit:Household Income and Expenditure Statistics Section,Department of Statistics
1.3 Tel: +886-49-2394042
1.4 Fax:+886-49-2394040
1.5 E-mail: cb22@dgbas.gov.tw

2. Means of dissemination

2.1 Oral
( ) Press conference or news conference

2.2 Hardcopy
(v) News release ( ) Statement (v) Periodical: “Taiwan Family Income/Expenditure Survey”

2.3 Electronic media:
(v) Online book, periodical and database at: http://www.dgbas.gov.tw
( ) Floppy disk ( ) CD ( ) others

3. Data coverage, periodicity & timeliness

3.1 Geographical coverage and data coverage
Taiwan (including 21 counties/cities of Taiwan province, Taipei city and Kaohsiung city)
Survey subjects: Taiwan nationals living in Taiwan and their families (refer to those living together)

3.2 Reference period
January 1st through December 31st of each year

3.3 Definition(s)
The survey comprises the makeup of the family, home appliances, the residence’s status and income and expenditure. The outcome is used to calculate the percentage of families that own home appliances, the percentage of families that own residential real estate and the average household disposable income, expenditure and savings.

1.Disposable Income Disparity Multiple: Divide family disposal incomes into 5 ranges. The quotient obtained by dividing the average income of the top 20% range by that of the bottom 20% range is the Multiple.

2.Family Income/Expenditure: Regular income includes employee compensation, business owner earnings, property income, rent, regular transfers and miscellaneous. Regular expenditure includes non-consumer expenses (interests and regular transfers) and consumer expenses.

3. Family expenditure includes food, clothing, rent and utilities, upkeep, medical care, transportation and communication, entertainment and education, and miscellaneous.

4. The percentage of families owning a certain home appliance: The number of families that owns a certain home appliance to the number of those that doesn’t.

5. The percentage of families owning residential real estate: The number of families that owns the property on which they live to the number of all families.

1.Disposable Income Disparity Multiple: Divide family into 5 equal divisions according to disposable income. The ratio obtained by dividing the average income of the top 20% division by that of the bottom 20%division is the Multiple.

2.Family income/expenditure: Regular income includes compensation of employee, entrepreneurial income, property income, imputed rent income, current transfer receipts and miscellaneous receipts. Regular expenditure includes non-consumption expenditures (interests and current transfer expenditures) and consumption expenditures.

3.4 Unit measures:
Family income/expenditure and consumption are denoted by “NT$”, while the percentage of families owning a certain home appliance and the percentage of families owning their home are denoted by “%”.

3.5 Breakdown available
1.Average family income/expenditure per household by areas.

2.Average family income/expenditure is per household by 5 equal divisions of household according to disposable income.

3. Household housing and modernized facilities by areas.

3.6 Release periodicity
Yearly

3.7 Window of period release
8 months

3.8 History of survey and data changes
Family income distribution survey was conducted for the first time in 1964. It was a sampling survey of family income/expenditure conducted by DGBAS. In 1966, the BAS office of the provincial government took over and began conducting the survey every other year. In 1970, Taipei city was upgraded to a city directly administered by the Cabinet. Since then, the BAS offices of the provincial government and Taipei city conducted the survey separately. The survey was then conducted yearly. In 1979, Kaohsiung was upgraded to a state-governed city. The BAS offices of the provincial government, Taipei city and Kaohsiung city now conducted the survey separately once yearly. In 2000, the provincial government was downsized and the BAS office of the provincial government was turned into the Central Taiwan Office of DGBAS. Since then, the survey has been conducted separately by DGBAS Central Taiwan Office and the BAS offices of Taipei and Kaohsiung cities yearly.

4. Public access

4.1 Advance release calendar and means of dissemination:
The end of February each year

4.2 Simultaneous release to all interested parties:
A news release is issued in August each year and posted on Central Office’s website at: http://win.dgbas.gov.tw/fies .In October each year, “Taiwan Family Income/Expenditure Survey” is published and sent to government offices and libraries for their reference. It is also available to the public at DSTI, Sanmin Bookstore, Wunan Books and Xinjinxing.

5. Data quality

5.1 Explanations for statistical methodology, data manipulation and data source:

1. Family income/expenditure surveys are conducted using registered household data with the county/city for the general population. Stratified 2-Stage Random Sampling is used to select those to be interviewed. The employed population is divided by the village/neighborhood into 3 strata -- Urban, City and Country (Taipei city and Kaohsiung city excepted) -- according to percentages of industries. The Stage 1 sampling unit is the village/neighborhood and the Stage 2 the household. These households are interviewed once a year. Major annual income/expenditure items are in the survey. The number of households is weighted to obtain desired data. The household weight is obtained by multiplying the number of households interviewed by the number of all households of the population.

2. Refer to “Taiwan Family Income/Expenditure Survey” for the survey method and the sampling method.

5.2 Cross-checking mechanism to ensure data reasonableness:
Extreme values of income and expenditure accounts are prepared and cross-checked. The results are classified by region, degree of urbanization and occupation to ensure accuracy.

6. Other descriptions helpful for users and explanation for data incongruence:

None