A new round of the Household Expenditure Survey (HES) will be launched in mid-September this year. The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) conducts an HES once every five years to collect up-to-date information on the expenditure patterns of households in Hong Kong. This information is an important input for updating the expenditure weights of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
 
     About 13 000 living quarters have been selected for participation in the survey under a scientifically designed sampling scheme. The one-year survey reference period starting from October 2024 will be divided into 26 bi-weekly cycles, and each sampled household will take part in only one cycle.
 
     About three weeks before the commencement of each survey cycle, notification letters will be sent to the sampled living quarters to invite the households therein to participate in the survey. The notification letters for the first survey cycle will be sent early next week. Census officers, whose names are shown on the notification letters, will then call on households in the sampled living quarters about one to two weeks after despatch of the letters to explain the purposes and data requirements of the survey. Each census officer will carry a Government Identity Card / Enumerator Identity Card and a Certificate of Identity issued by the C&SD authorising him/her to conduct the survey for inspection. Householders should check carefully the identity of the census officer before admitting him/her to their premises for interviews.
 
     The questionnaire used in the HES is designed mainly in the form of an expenditure diary. Each household member will need to record his/her daily expenditures in the diary, as well as providing information on regular payments and expenditures on infrequent purchases. In addition to paper questionnaire, they can follow the information provided in the notification letters to complete the questionnaires online through the "Online Questionnaire System" of the C&SD. They can also contact the C&SD to make appointments with census officers to visit and assist them in completing the questionnaires.
 
     The 2024/25 HES is conducted under Part IIIA of the Census and Statistics Ordinance (Chapter 316). Information collected in the survey regarding individual persons and households will be kept strictly confidential and used solely for statistical purposes.
 
     The information collected from the HES is one of the major inputs for updating the expenditure weights of the CPI, which is an important economic indicator that measures changes in the price level of consumer goods and services generally purchased by households.
 
     For enquiries about the 2024/25 HES, please contact the Household Expenditure Survey Section of the C&SD at telephone number 2551 6500 or email address hesurvey@censtatd.gov.hk.

Ends/Thursday, September 12, 2024
Issued at HKT 16:30

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