Republic of Maldives HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND EXPENDITURE SURVEY 2002/2003 Ministry of Planning and National Development Male’ Republic of Maldives © Ministry of Planning and National Development, 2005 All rights of this work are reserved. No part may be printed or published without prior written permission from the publisher. Short excerpts from the publication may be reproduced for the purpose of research or review provided due acknowledgment is made. ISBN: 99915-55-41-2 Published by: Ministry of Planning and National Development Ghazee Building Male’ 20-05 Republic of Maldives Tel: 315347 Fax: 318343 e-mail: [email protected] Website: www.planning.gov.mv Cover design by: Willem Van Den Andel Yasir Waseem Printed by: ----------------------Print FOREWORD by Minister of Planning and National Development Mr. Hamdun Hameed The release of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) report of Maldives 2002-2003 marks an important milestone in the compilation and publication of household consumption statistics in the country. The sustained growth experienced by the Maldives in the past decades has lead to an increase in disposable income of the population. These developments require timely statistics to assess the changes in the levels and distribution of income within and across the country. In this regard HIES provide new insights into the consumption patterns of the population living in the five development regions of the country in addition to Male’ and aggregated patterns for the Atolls and the Republic. The HIES results show that incomes have grown rapidly during the past years and that incomes of the poorer groups in the population has grown much faster resulting in a substantial reduction in income inequality within the Maldives. However, it also revealed that inequality between Male’ and the Atolls has increased significantly during the same period. Tackling these issues pose major challenges for the country. The findings from HIES are consistent with the preliminary findings of the 2004 Vulnerability and Poverty Survey (VPS). In all major aspects, the information collected in the HIES is comparable with the Vulnerability and Poverty Assessment studies conducted in all inhabited islands of the country in 1998 and 2004. With extensive damage and devastation caused to the country by the Asian tsunami of 26 December 2004, these surveys provide invaluable data on the socio-economic and poverty situation of households, throughout the country, the most recent available prior to this incident. It must be noted that the present survey benefited greatly from the newly introduced “Statistical Regulation of the Republic of Maldives”, as it ensures greater confidentiality of information provided by individuals and households. I would like to acknowledge with appreciation the technical assistance provided by the UNDP, i UNESCAP and ADB to support this survey. Special thanks go to all the consultants who assisted us in this work. I congratulate the staff of the Statistics Section of this Ministry for their hard work and dedication in carrying out the survey operation at all stages and for their coordinated efforts together with the project consultants in producing this report. I am sure that this publication gives valuable information and I hope that it would assist the public sector in better design and implementation of national policies and facilitate private sector in undertaking informed decisions. In order to provide easy access to the users, this report and the accompanying database are made available on CD-ROM and on our website (http://www.planning.gov.mv). We hope that easy exchange of information would facilitate greater co-operation between the data users and data providers, leading to further improvement of the quality of household statistics in the future. Acknowledgement ii We would like to acknowledge the support and co-operation received from all the 740 households selected in the sample and to thank them for their efforts in providing the detailed information required for the survey. Our sincere appreciation goes to the UNDP, UNESCAP and ADB, for their technical assistance and support for the Household Income and Expenditure Survey report of Maldives. This report is one of the outputs of the UNDP and UNESCAP project on “Institutional strengthening and capacity building in statistics” under which consultancy was provided in data analysis and the production of this report. Consultancy services were also provided under the ADB technical assistance project “Further development of a system of national accounts”, during the preparatory phase of the survey. The data collection and processing of the survey was funded by the government budget. The activities of the survey were implemented by the Statistics Section of the Ministry of Planning and National Development (MPND/ST). The hard work and contributions by the staff of MPND/ST in collaboration with the project consultants at all stages of the survey is greatly acknowledged. Sample design was prepared by Mr. Shyam Upadyaya in coordination with Ms. Aishath Laila and Ms. Hidhaya Moosa. Preparations, implementation and management of the survey in terms of the questionnaire design, training manual, conduction of training, data collection, coding, editing and entry was lead by Ms. Aishath Laila, Ms. Mariyam Niyaf and the survey unit of the section with involvement of staff from other units of MPND/ST, under the overall supervision of Mr.Fuwad Thowfeek and Ms. Aishath Shahuda. Data processing was carried out by Mr. Yasir Waseem and Mr. Mohamed Jawad under the supervision of Ms. Fathimath Nihan, with advice and guidance of Mr. Huzaifa Zoomkawala. Data cleaning was carried out by Mr. Willem Van Den Andel, in close coordination with Ms. Aishath Laila and Mr. Idham Fahumy. Training on SPSS was conducted by Mr. Nuri Ozsever and data analysis training by Mr. Hans de Kruijk. Very special thanks go to Mr. Willem Van Den Andel for writing this report and for his valuable contributions in completing this report, despite the end of his consultancy period. We would also like to acknowledge the support provided by Mr. Abdul Bari Abdulla in coordinating the UNDP project related aspects of this survey in collaboration with the staff of MPND/ST. iii Introduction The report on the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) of the Maldives 2002- 2003 presents an analysis of findings from the survey. This is the first nationwide HIES conducted in the Maldives. The survey was conducted during the period September 2002 to June 2003 in four quarterly rounds during the months of September and December in 2002 and March and June in 2003. The survey was designed as a scientific random sample with separate strata for Male' and the five development regions. It covered the capital Male' and forty islands from the Atolls and includes data for 834 households. HIES data is an analytical tool that many countries use to gather information on household consumption on a regular basis to monitor changes in the level of poverty and analyse the well-being of the people and the economy. The main purpose of this survey was to collect information on the economic well-being of the population. Specifically, the results will be used to bring about improvements in the national accounts, consumer price index and the vulnerability and poverty statistics of the country. As HIES data provide a snapshot of the socio-economic situation of the households prior to the Tsunami, it would also serve as significant baseline data in the future assessments and comparisons in this regard. The tables presented in the report provide the data by standard classifications that include income quintiles, income classes, and daily per capita expenditure classes, cross-tabulated by demographic variables such as the size of household, number of earners, proportion of expenditure on different expenditure categories. To the extent possible, all information is presented separately for Male' and the Atolls and also at the regional level for the atolls and comparisons are made with the 1997/98 VPA. In order to provide easy access to the national as well as international data users, this report with the analysis, detailed tabulations, questionnaires, sample design and the database of the survey is made available on CD-ROM and on the Ministry’s website (http://www.planning.gov.mv). MALDIVES HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND EXPENDITURE SURVEY 2002/03 iv Table of Contents Map of Maldives............................................................................................................... ix Summary finding ………………………………………………………………………………… x List of Acronyms and Abbreviations................................................................................. xvi Chapter 1: The Household Income and Expenditure Survey............................................ 1 1.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Main Aims and Purposes................................................................................ 2 1.3 Methodology................................................................................................... 2 1.3.1 Sample Design............................................................................................ 2 1.3.2 Enumeration and analytical problems.......................................................... 3 1.4 Data Entry, Editing and Processing........................................................ ……. 5 1.5 Limitations.............................................................................................