Household Expenditure

Household expenditure includes not only household purchasing and payments but savings, transfers and estimated values of goods and services received also. In HIES the information related to expenditure was collected on household basis under the following three sub-sections of the survey schedule. Expenditure on food. Expenditure on non-food. Expenditure incurred by boarders and domestic servants. Under food expenditure, information gathered for 7 consecutive days from Monday to Sunday with a view to get more accurate data.  For each day, number of persons present for meals and consumption quantities and values for each and every food item consumed within the household were reported. Values were estimated according to the market value for the home-grown food items or items received free of charge. This information is initially recorded in a separate form by the respondent on a daily basis under the guidance of the enumerator through three visits to sample household. This information was later edited where it is necessary and entered into the survey schedule by the enumerator. Under non-food expenditure, expenditure values and consumption quantities of items were gathered and recorded under the relevant major groups such as Housing, Fuel and Light, Clothing, Health, Education etc.  For each expenditure group, one month, 6 months or 12 months reference periods were adopted depending on the behavior of the consumption and expenditure frequencies of the main items in the item group. Personal expenditure of boarders and domestic servants who live in the household is reported according to the related expenditure group in a separate section of the schedule. Household size (number of persons usually live in the household) and the activities of the members are important when studying the household expenditure. Household sizes vary widely in different domains and survey periods. Therefore, the household size should be taken into account when comparing household consumption and expenditure values in different domains and survey periods. Household size in Sri Lanka has been decreasing continuously during the past 20 years of survey reference periods.  HIES 2002 results reveal that household size is 4.2 persons per household in 2002, which is a considerable reduction from 4.5 persons reported in 1995/96.

On-line Tabulation

Household Expenditure Estimations Select the table type Major expenditure groups By household size Tabulated by area.. Select an Area Residential Sectors Provinces Administrative Districts Household expenditure deciles