Brief Introduction
I.
Main Contents
Data
in this chapter show the people’s living conditions in
II.
Sources of Data on the Living Conditions of Urban Residents
Data
on the living condition of urban residents come from the data collected through
a sample survey on the urban households conducted by the Department of Urban
Social and Economic Survey of the NBS. The main contents of the survey include
persons in the household and the household composition; cash income and
expenditure of the household; quantity of major commodities purchased and
expenditure; the employment of household members; the housing condition; and
the possession of durable consumer goods.
III.
Methodology for Urban Household Survey
Urban
household survey is organized by the Department of Urban Social and Economic
Survey, NBS. The NBS survey offices in the provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities directly under the Central Government as well as the survey
offices in selected cities and counties are responsible for collecting data in
accordance with the survey scheme stipulated by the NBS and submitting the data
to the offices at higher levels.
The
survey had covered only non-farm households until 2001. Starting from 2002, the
survey covers the households in district areas of all city and county towns.
Sample
cities and towns in urban areas are selected by using stratified random
sampling method. Firstly, all the urban areas and towns of all provinces
(autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government)
are stratified into three strata according to population size: large and
medium-sized cities (at and above prefecture level), county cities and county
towns; secondly, the sample size is decided by proportion of population in
selected stratus to the provincial total; thirdly, cities and towns are
arranged in ranking the annual average wages of the employed persons, then with
the accumulative population in each city and town sample cities and towns are
selected by systematic sampling scheme according to the size of the samples.
The
selection of sample households in urban areas is done by two steps: the first step
is to have a one-off large sample survey; the second step is to select a small
sample from the large sample to be used as regular sample households for
diaries.
The
large sample survey is conducted for every three years; the objective is to
provide sample frame for regular surveys and basic information for data
evaluation of regular surveys. In the large sample survey, samples in sample
cities and towns are selected by systematic sampling method schemes, such as
two-phase sampling and stratifying method, two-stage (multi) method and
probability proportional to size (PPS) method. Namely, stratification is done
at district level, and then PPS systematic sampling method is used to select
sample communities/resident’s committees, finally the same method is used to
select dwellings from the selected districts/resident’s committees. In some
large cities, three-stage sampling method is used. First, the
communities/resident’s committees are selected. Secondly, sample districts are
selected. Thirdly, sample dwellings are selected. A survey will be conducted to
the large samples or the first phase samples to collect relevant information on
household population, persons employed, income and so
on. Then grouping is made based on the information collected, small samples or
the second phase samples are selected according to proportions which are
regular sample households to keep diary.
The
national sample included 59,000 households at the end of 2007.
IV.
Sources of Data on the Living Conditions of Rural Residents
Data
on the living conditions of rural residents come from data collected through
the sample survey on rural households, which is organized by the Department of
Rural Social and Economic Survey, NBS. The main contents of the survey include
the basic condition of rural households, housing conditions, income,
consumption expenditure, consumption of major consumer goods and the quantity
of durable consumer goods owned.
V.
Methodology for Rural Household Survey
Sample
survey on rural households is conducted by first selecting sampled villages and
then selecting households in the selected villages in each province, with all
rural households in the province as the population. A combination of various
sampling approaches is used to identify a total of 68,000 households selected
from 7,100 villages throughout the whole country.
It
is required that the sampling error should not exceed ±3%, with a confidence
probability as 95%. In order to ensure the accuracy of the survey data on the
rural households, two accounts are designed for the respondent households by
the Department of Rural Social and Economic Survey, NBS: the cash account and
the account on goods in kind. Nearly 10 thousand assistant enumerators have
been recruited to help the households keep good accounts and to check on a
timely fashion and to and tabulate the data from the survey.
In
order to overcome the tedium of respondent households and to ensure that the
sample is accurately representative over time and reflects the changing rural
social and economic situation, a rotation sampling scheme is implemented by the
Department of Rural Social and Economic Survey, NBS. A complete cycle of
rotation is 5 years.