Note to Users of Data from the 2010 Survey of Household Spending

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Introduction

The Survey of Household Spending (SHS) underwent a major redesign in 2010. One objective of the redesign was to better adapt the collection methods and the reference periods to the capacity of the respondent to provide accurate information. The redesign also sought to incorporate the content of the former Food Expenditure Survey (FES) so that there could be more frequent releases of detailed food data. Finally, the redesign enabled the spreading of data collection over the entire year in order to lighten the load of collection operations during the months of January to March. As a result of all these changes, the redesigned survey is now similar to those conducted in other countries.

Expense categories in the redesigned SHS are similar to those of previous years. However, changes to data collection, processing and estimation methods have created a break in the data series. As a result, caution should be used in comparing the 2010 SHS data with previous years, unless otherwise noted.