MUSCAT: The National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) on Saturday completed the fieldwork of Household Expenditure and Income Survey.
Conducted for the fourth time, the survey targets a sample comprising 5,660 Omani and expatriate families distributed throughout the governorates of the Sultanate. The NCSI values the cooperation shown by the families that were ready to share all their expenditure and consumption data to the fullest.
Yaqoob bin Khamis al Zadjali, Director of Social Survey Department at NCSI, said, “The nature of this survey has created a number of challenges that the field researchers had to address as the survey covers a period of one year as well as the expenses and the income of each family which are issues characterised by being subject to seasonal changes. For example, spending on specific commodities, goods and services increases in particular months; and vice versa.”
Stressing on the confidently of all data collected by the virtue of the Law of Statistics and Information, issued by the Royal Decree No 55/2019, al Zadjali said, “Data collected by the field researchers has been reviewed by an “observer” and sent to the NCSI to be reviewed and verified again to make sure all data are reasonable before coding.”
The survey results will be available to the public during the first quarter of 2020 and will be compared to those of the previous survey to detect the variations and changes in different indicators.
Households Expenditure and Income Survey provides a comprehensive database on the expenditure and income of the Omani and expatriate families; linking these data with various social, demographic and economic variables, such as geographical distribution, gender, educational level and the condition of economic activity.
The data of this survey is a qualitative leap in taking a closer look at the nutritional status of the Omani society, which is usually important to determine the health status of the society. Most countries in the world carry out the household expenditure and income survey. In view of the continuous changes in expenditure, consumption and income patterns, this survey is carried out regularly. These countries tend to hold the survey once in five years.
— ONA
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
