KUCHING: The Statistics Department is conducting a Household Income, Expen- diture and Basic Amenities Survey (HIES) this year to collect information on income and expenditure distribution pattern of households.
The survey will also identify poverty groups and accessibility to basic amenities by households in the country.
The income data will be used by the Government as input to formulate national development plans, particularly the upcoming 11th Malaysia Plan.
The expenditure data will be used to calculate a weighted Consumer Price Index (CPI), a proxy for measuring the country’s inflation rate.
“The HIES data is important to the Government and related agencies in the planning, development and formulation of the country’s policies, especially in poverty eradication programmes and comprehensive distribution of income,” the department said in a statement.
“Besides that, HIES data is a basic item in the formation of the poverty line income and in determining the poor and hardcore poor. It is used as input to analyse the distribution of income and expenses associated with economic activities, employment and so forth.”
In Sarawak, the survey will cover 12,336 households in private living quarters in all administration districts.
It will be carried out from January to December through a personal interview approach.
The department’s officers and staff will visit selected households to collect information on demography, income and basic amenities.
“We hope the selected households will give full cooperation to the officers who visit them,” the department said.
It added that the information is gathered under the Statistics Act, which requires respondents to provide actual information or best estimates to the department and that such information is confidential.
