The Household Economic Survey (HES) collects information on household expenditure and income, as well as a range of demographic information on individuals and households.
Purchases recorded by households include such things as fruit and vegetables, footwear and cars, as well as spending on services such as electricity, telecommunications and health.
The survey also asks for detail on where households get their money from – for example, wages and salaries, self-employment, investments or benefits.
The three main objectives for conducting the HES are:
- to contribute to the reweighting of the measure of price change of goods and services acquired by New Zealand households (Consumers Price Index)
- to supply expenditure statistics for use in estimating New Zealand’s economic activity (Gross Domestic Product)
- to provide an indication of the overall living standards of New Zealanders
The full HES is conducted every three years, with a shortened version of this survey called HES (Income) run each year in between. HES (Income) focuses on three areas: household income, expenditure on housing costs, and living standards.
Latest releases
Household Economic Survey (Year ended 30 June 2007)
Survey information
Household Economic Survey
Reports and articles
Changes to the Household Economic Survey (PDF)(176 KB) - paper
HES Integrated Weighting - report
2006/07 HES recommendations and preliminary views paper - report
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