25 Years of Experience in Household Sample Surveys in the Official Statistics of Ukraine: Main Assets, Problems, Prospects

Abstract

Since 1998, the state statistics of Ukraine has accumulated a huge experience in organizing and conducting household sample surveys in accordance with international recommendations and standards. Nowadays, the harmonized system of surveys includes the Household Living Conditions Survey, the Labor Force Survey and the Survey of Household Agricultural Activities in rural areas. About 100,000 households are surveyed annually, which represent all private households in various samples of these surveys. A significant number of specialists with the necessary knowledge and skills have been trained in the State Statistics Service of Ukraine (hereinafter - SSSU), territorial bodies of the SSSU. The article considers the main characteristics of the SSSU experience in the field of methodology and practice of organizing and conducting the household sample surveys, collecting and processing surveys’ data, statistical indicators estimation. The strengths and weaknesses of the acquired experience, potential directions for improvement of surveys, risks that may affect the quality of their results in the future, plans for the development of the system of sample surveys and the use of new methods of data collecting and processing are discussed. It is noted that the acquired experience made it possible to approach in 2021 to the development of the basis for introduction of such actual survey in Ukraine as the EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC), to foresee the use of new data collection technologies CAPI, CATI and CAWI without any particular problems. At the same time, it is shown that some important methodologies regarding the estimation of indicators based on survey results have not been implemented. It is noted that an urgent problem for the SSSU is the use of "big data" in household surveys, which provides the opportunity of significantly reducing the burden on households during the survey, improving the completeness and timeliness of information about them, reducing costs for survey providing, etc. Such data could provide also estimation of certain important statistical indicators during the war. The risks of an accelerated transition for conducting the state household sample surveys mainly using CATI and CAWI technologies are discussed, related to the possibility of a significant deterioration in the quality of the survey results due to the lack of relevant skills of the SSSU specialists, insufficient level of Internet use by the population, lack of population and household registers with quality data in Ukraine, etc.