[EE] Estonian Social Survey (ESS)

Full name of the series in original language

Eesti sotsiaaluuring

Abstract

In March 2004 Statistics Estonia launched the Estonian Social Survey (ESS), with the goal of measuring the income and living conditions of Estonians, and through them the problematic areas of the society — poverty, inequality and social exclusion. The survey offers a possibility to measure such complex social processes as persistent poverty and the various levels of deprivation. In Estonia, ESS is the official source of income statistics and social exclusion indicators.

ESS is the Estonian branch of a pan-European survey of income and living conditions called the EU-SILC (European Union (EU) Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) coordinated by the Statistical Office of the European Communities Eurostat. Statistics Estonia, however, has added questions, which are of interest to the domestic consumers of Estonia, to the EU-commissioned survey, and attempts to have the survey be a combination of Estonian and European data requirements.

Its main output is concerned with household incomes and living conditions (the dwelling and living environment). Other topics cover the respondent’s household and its economic subsistence on the one hand, and the respondent’s personal working life, education, health and accessibility of medical care on the other.

Within the Estonian domestic context, we do not speak about EU-SILC but about Estonian Social Survey (ESS). While the general direction of ESS being the same as that of EU-SILC, the Estonian Social Survey has six main goals which focus specifically on Estonia.

1. To gain information about the annual incomes and income distribution of Estonian households.
2. To study poverty and social exclusion in Estonia.
3. To analyze the subsistence and living conditions of Estonian households and their relation to place of residence, education, social status, descent, and other socioeconomic and demographic indicators.
4. To supply reliable and usable data for the development and updating of family, employment, tax, social benefit and other social policies.
5. To collect data that enable to compare Estonia with other European countries.
6. To promote use of these data in Estonian ministries, other state institutions and among scientists.

The main topics of ESS are income and social exclusion. Alongside them, the main survey makes enquiries on both personal and household level about various additional topics. These in turn are then supplemented by modules which have a different topic every year. The questions asked in ESS concern a household’s general data, living conditions, income, production for own consumption, the household members’ education, working life and health.

The survey is cross-sectional i.e. at the same time four panels have been included in the survey. In longitudinal terms, the panels are rotated with the rotation period of 12 months: each year one of the four panels from the previous year is dropped and a new one is added. A cross-sectional sample thus consists of one new panel and three replications. Any panel remains in the survey for four years i.e. the households and their members are surveyed for four successive years. In the time frame of one year, the survey is cross-sectional — there are no repetitive households in a sample selected for one year.

The rotation principle could not be fully implemented at the beginning of the survey and panels had to be modified. In 2004, i.e. in the first survey year, a sample of 6,000 households was concurrently selected into the sample and randomly divided into four sub-samples or rotational groups. According to the initial rotation plan, every next year one sub-sample should be dropped. However, as the response rate was smaller than expected, it was decided to keep all the four sub-samples in the sample of the 2005 and 2006 surveys. Two sub-samples selected in 2004 were both dropped from the 2007 survey and the two remaining ones from the 2008 survey. Hence, the households included in the 2004 sample actually comprise two panels. The first one (rotational groups 1 and 2) was surveyed for three years (2004–2006) and the second one (rotational groups 3 and 4) was surveyed for four years (2004–2007). However, the households that were included in the sample in the first year of the survey are jointly called the first panel, which is divided into rotational groups. During the following years of the survey, i.e. from 2005 onwards, a new sub-sample was added every time, called the second, third, fourth, etc. panel accordingly. From 2007 onwards, the rotation has been regular.

Geographic coverage

Estonia

Notes

Source :
Methodological report - English: http://www.stat.ee/

Time method

Longitudinal: Panel

Time period

2004 => 2010

Types of available microdata

Consistency type

Access mode

Update date

15/09/2021