People’s Livelihood

Abstract

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Notes

Data for compilation of the consumer price indices in China are collected by the Department of Urban Social and Economic Survey, NBS and the Department of Rural Social and Economic Survey, NBS through a combination of sample surveys and surveys of key units. Areas distributed in different economic regions are selected as the sample areas and representative commodities are selected as the sample commodities. Regular surveys are conducted to collect data on their market prices. Population parameters are inferred on the basis of the sample data. At present, 500 cities and counties of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government have been selected for this purpose.

Data for compilation of the consumer price indices and the retail price indices in China are collected by the Department of Urban Social and Economic Survey, NBS and the Department of Rural Social and Economic Survey, NBS through a combination of sample surveys and surveys of key units. Areas distributed in different economic regions are selected as the sample areas and representative commodities are selected as the sample commodities. Regular surveys are conducted to collect data on their market prices. Population parameters are inferred on the basis of the sample data. At present, 500 cities and counties of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government have been selected for this purpose.

Data on the living condition of urban residents come from the data collected through a sample survey on the urban households conducted by the Office of Household Surveys of the NBS. The NBS survey offices in 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. 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 3 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. In some large cities, three-stage sampling method is used.

The national sample included 66,000 households at the end of 2011.

Data on the living conditions of rural residents come from data collected through the sample survey on rural households, which is organized by the Office of Household Survey of the NBS. 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 74,000 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 Office of Household Survey of the NBS: the cash account and the account on goods in kind. 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, and the complete cycle of rotation is 5 years.

Data on electricity consumption are provided by the Association of Power Generation Enterprises of China.