Housing conditions, survey on living conditions

Definition of main concepts

A household consists of all persons living in the same dwelling who also share a meal budget.

Dwelling: A dwelling is defined as one or more rooms that has been built or rebuilt for the purpose of being used as a round-the-year dwelling for one or more persons. It must be possible to have access to the room(s) without having to go through another dwelling. Both dwelling units and single rooms are counted as dwellings. A dwelling unit is a conventional dwelling with at least one room and kitchen. Single rooms are living quarters with a separate entrance and with access to water and toilet outside other living quarters.

Definition of indicators of housing costs

Does not have a mortgage

Proportion who does not have a mortgage or other loans with security in the home they live in. Stated as a proportion of the total population (both renters and owners), unless you look at the table where the figures are distributed by type of ownership. Tenants are placed in this category, even though they may own and have mortgages linked to homes other than the one they primarily live in. The information is based on self-reported information, but where this is missing from the interview, register information is used (total debt after debt reduction).

Has a remaining mortgage, percentage

The proportion who has mortgages or other loans with security in the home they live in, categorized by the size of the loan. Proportion of the total population (both renters and owners), unless you look at the table where the figures are distributed by type of ownership. Only loans linked to a primary home are counted, but people can own several homes and thus have loans linked to other properties which are not counted here. The information is based on self-reported information, but where this is missing from the interview, register information is used (total debt after debt reduction).

Average total housing expenses (NOK)

Annual total expenditure on housing. For owners, the total housing expenses includes interest and installments on mortgages, rent or joint expenses for part/shareholders or commonhold owners, home insurance, municipal taxes, property tax and electricity and heating.

For tenants, the amount includes rent, electricity, and heating.

See definitions of each of the expenditure items below for a description of these.

Average total housing costs (NOK)

Annual total costs for housing. For owners, total housing costs include interest on mortgages, rent or joint expenses for part/shareholders or commonhold owners, home insurance, municipal taxes, property tax and electricity and heating. Does not include installments on mortgages, as this can be considered savings and thus is not part of cost/consumption in the same sense as the other expenses.

For tenants, the amount includes rent, electricity and heating.

See definitions of each of the expenditure items below for a description of these.

Housing expenses’ percentage of income

The share of the household's disposable income that goes to total housing costs (total housing costs are defined above), grouped according to how much of the income goes to housing costs.

Income information is based on information from the income register in the year before the survey. This information is available somewhat later than at the time of publication of the statistics, so these indicators are published later than the other indicators.

Definition of indicators of rental conditions and housing expenses for tenants

Uncertain of being able to continue living in the housing

Reports that they are quite or very insecure that they will be able to continue to live in their rented dwelling because of a sudden increase in rent or other things about the tenancy.

Rent, average (NOK)

Average annual expenses for rent, for tenants who pay rent. The information is based on an interview, where you are asked to provide monthly rent. The amount is then multiplied to an annual amount. If information is missing from the interview, this is imputed based on household size, centrality and whether they have answered that they pay market rent or reduced rent.

Electricity and heating, average (NOK)

Average annual expenses for electricity and heating, for tenants who pay this separately.

Definition of expenses for electricity and heating, see description under ‘Definition of indicators of mortgage and housing expenses for house owners'.

Definition of indicators of mortgage and housing expenses for house owners

Remaining mortgage, average (NOK)

Average amount of remaining mortgage, for homeowners who have mortgages or other loans secured by the home they live in. Loans linked to other homes or properties are not included. The information is based on self-reported information, but where this is missing from the interview, register information is used (total debt after debt reduction).

Estimated sales price, average (NOK)

Average assumed selling price for the home, for homeowners. The information is based on self-reported information.

Has installment-free mortgage (per cent)

Proportion of owners with mortgages who do not pay installments. Calculated based on information on expenses for interest and installments (see below).

Interest and installments, average (NOK)

Average annual expenses for interest and installments, for owners with mortgages. Annual expenses are calculated based on self-reported information on monthly expenses at the time of the interview. If information from the interview is missing, this is imputed by adding up the calculated interest (see below) and the imputed installment. Installments are imputed based on the size of the loan and the installments' average share of the interest amount.

The data collection takes place during the first six months of the year of the survey. Since respondents are asked about the costs of interest and installments at the time of the interview, and it is these costs that are used as the basis for the annual costs, the calculation of annual costs could deviate from actual annual costs for those who have had changed interest costs during the year.

Interest, average (NOK)

Average annual expenses for interest, for those with mortgages. Interest is calculated based on the size of the loan and the interest rate stated in the interview. Where information from the interview is missing, the median value among those who have given an answer is used.

Installments, average (NOK)

Average annual expenditure on installments, for those who pay installments. Installments are calculated as interest and installments (defined above) minus interest (defined above).

Pays common expenses to a housing association (per cent)

Proportion of owners who pay joint expenses, to a housing association, condominium or similar. Based on self-reported information.

Common expenses, average (NOK)

Average annual expenses for joint expenses, for those who pay joint expenses. Joint expenses are first calculated separately for owners based on whether they are freeholders or part-/shareholders, before they are collected in one indicator.

Owners who are part-/shareholders answer about joint expenses per month, which is then multiplied to annual expenses. If information is missing from the interview, this is imputed based on the size of the home.

Owners who are freeholders choose whether to answer common expenses per month, quarter or year, and are multiplied to annual expenses based on the period for which the answers are given. Where information from the interview is missing, this is imputed based on building type, and whether they pay separate municipal taxes or home insurance.

Municipal taxes and property tax, average (NOK)

Average annual expenditure on municipal taxes and property tax, for freehold owners who pay some of this. Missing information is imputed based on the size of the home.

Home insurance, average (NOK)

Average annual expenses for home insurance, for owners who pay this separately. Missing information is imputed based on the size of the home.

Electricity and heating, average (NOK)

Average annual amount for electricity and heating. The indicator is based on self-reported information on electricity expenditure and any other expenditure on firewood or heating, which is further calculated to correspond to annual expenditure, and where missing data is imputed. The information on electricity costs and other costs for heating is described in more detail below.

The survey only asks about electricity expenses in the last month. Annual expenses are therefore calculated, adjusted for the time of year people answered and variations in electricity prices. In addition, electricity costs are imputed for those who have not answered the question, based on building type and size.

Other expenses for firewood or heating are stated as expenses for the past 12 months, and are therefore not further calculated. The variable is imputed based on the size of the home for those who have not answered the question.

Have had maintenance expenses in the last 12 months (per cent)

Proportion of owners who answer that they have had expenses for maintenance or repairs in the past 12 months.

Maintenance expenses, average (NOK)

Annual expenses for maintenance or repair of the home, average for all owners (including those who have had no expenses). Based on self-reported information. Where people have answered that they have had expenses for maintenance but do not know the amount, this is imputed based on the size of the home. To exclude extreme values, the variable is truncated so that values above the 99.5th percentile is set to the value of the 99.5th percentile.

Definition of indicators on dwelling ownership

Freeholder

Owns their dwelling/home as a freeholder.

Part- / share holder

Owns their dwelling/home as a part-/shareholder in a housing cooperative or through a housing stock company (commonhold/condominium ownership).

Tenant

Rents their dwelling.

Owns cabin or holiday home

Owns cottage or holiday home alone or with others.

Owns two or more dwellings

Owner of two or more dwellings/homes, including the one they live in.

Definition of indicators on purchase of dwellings

Bought dwelling in the last 4 years (per cent)

The home you live in was purchased during the previous four calendar years or the first half of the year of the survey. For the 2023 survey, that means from the start of 2019 to the summer of 2023.

Help from parents in total (loan guarantors, private loan, inheritance or gift), per cent of buyers

Proportion who has received parental assistance in total, of those who have bought the home they live in in the last 4 years. Parental assistance includes that parents or parents-in-law have acted as guarantors, have given a private loan, or an advance on an inheritance or gift.

Definition of indicators on housing standard, living environment and accessibility

Square meters per person. Average

Average number of square meters per person in the household. The number of square meters is given for primary rooms, these are rooms such as living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom etc. To exclude extreme values, the variable is truncated so that values above 500 kvadratmeter får verdien 500 kvadratmeter.

Rooms per person. Average

Average number of rooms per person in the household. Rooms include living rooms, bedrooms, and similar, but exclude bathrooms, hallways, laundry rooms or rooms that are rented out. A kitchen is included if it is also used as a living room. People who state that they have 0 rooms get the value 1.

Problems with damp or rot in the dwelling

Live in a home where there are problems with rot in windows or floors, leaking from roofs, moisture in walls or floors.

Access to a safe area for play and recreation

Proportion that has a park or green area the size of a football field or larger, which is less than 200 meters from the home, and it is perceived as safe for all members of the household to come to the area.

Access to a nearby area for recreational walk

There are hiking trails within 500 meters walking distance from the home.

Problems with crime, violence or vandalism in the neighbourhood

Reports having problems with crime, violence or vandalism in the neighborhood.

Bothered by noise in dwelling (coming from outside)

Are somewhat or very bothered by noise from neighbors or other noise from outside when they are inside the dwelling/home.

Bothered by noise when just outside the dwelling

Are somewhat or very bothered by noise when they stay directly outside the home.

Difficulty sleeping because of noise

Are somewhat or very bothered by noise in or outside the home, and answer that they have sleep problems due to noise.

Bothered by dust, smell or other kind of pollution in the area

Are somewhat or very bothered by dust, odors or other pollution in the area around the home, due to traffic, industry or businesses.

No steps or stairs to access the dwelling

There is no need to climb any stairs or steps to get from outside and all the way into the home.

Definition of background variables

Age

Persons are grouped by age at the beginning of the year for the completion of the main part of the interview.

Mobility difficulties

Households that state that one or more persons in the household have permanent mobility difficulties.

Home mortgage size

Households are grouped according to whether they have a mortgage or other loans secured by the home they live in, and the size of the loan. Groups the population as a whole (both renters and owners), but renters are grouped in the group without a mortgage. Only loans linked to a primary home are counted, but people can own several homes and thus have loans linked to other properties which are not counted here. The information is based on self-reported information, but where this is missing from the interview, information from the register is used (total debt after debt reduction).

Type of dwelling

Households are grouped according to the type of dwelling/housing they live in.

• Detached house
• Semi-detached houses (terraced houses, two-, three- or four-person dwellings)
• Apartment blocks (apartment in a block, block of flats or other building with many dwellings)

Tenure status

Households are grouped according to whether they rent or own the dwelling/home they live in. Owners are further divided into whether they are a freeholder/sole proprietor or part-/shareholder/cooperative owners. The variable only says something about whether they rent or own the primary home, and not whether they own or rent other dwellings/homes.

Family cycle phase

Persons are grouped by which phase of the family cycle they belong to, and this is based on the person’s age, marital status (single/in couple) and whether the person has children, and the youngest child’s age. The concept single persons do not necessarily refer to persons living alone in the household, but rather persons not living in a relationship (they can still live with others, e.g. their parents or their children). Couples includes both married and unmarried couples. The groups with children consist of persons living with their own child(ren) (including stepchildren and adopted children) aged 0-19 years in the household.

County

Persons and households are grouped by county. Follows the standard for county classification, see 'Standard classifications'.

Household type

Households are grouped by the number of adults and children in the household, by age. A household includes all persons who are permanent residents of the same home and who have a joint food budget.

Country background

Persons in immigration category B are grouped as immigrants from either immigrants from the EU/EEA etc. or immigrants from Africa, Asia etc. based on their country background. Immigration category B consists of persons born abroad with two foreign born parents and four foreign born grandparents.

• Immigrants from EU/EEA etc. (includes EU/EEA, Switzerland, UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand).
• Immigrants from Africa, Asia etc. (includes Asia, Africa, Latin-America, Oceania outside of Australia and New Zealand and Europe outside of EU/EEA).

Income groups

Low income, EU: Belong to a household where after-tax income per consumption unit is below 60 per cent of the median income in the population.

After-tax income per consumption unit (equivalent income) is the household after-tax income "corrected" for differences in household size and household composition. When comparing the level of income and living standards for households of varying size, income is often adjusted with the help of equivalence scales or consumption units. An equivalence scale, for instance, provides an indication of how much income a household of four must have in order to achieve the same standard of living as a single person.

EU-equivalence scale: This is the ‘OECD-modified equivalence scale’ which assigns a value of 1 to the household head, of 0.5 to each additional adult member and of 0.3 to each child under the age of 17.

Median income is the exact income amount that splits a distribution in two equally sized groups, when income is sorted ascending (or descending). The number of persons with income over the median income will be the same as the number of persons with income under the median income.

Income quartiles: Population after-tax income per consumption unit sorted by income quartile.

Recipients of disability benefit: Receives disability pension from the social security system.

Recipient of social assistance: Receivers of social assistance from the social security system.

Recipients of work assessment allowance: Receivers of work assessment allowance from the social security system.

Low income households with children: Households with children aged 0-19 years where the equivalent after-tax income (EU-scale) is in the lowest quartile.

Elderly people with low incomes living alone: Persons aged 67 years and older living alone where the equivalent after-tax income (EU-scale) is in the lowest quartile.

Sex

People are grouped by gender. The information is taken from the population register. Follows the standard for gender, see 'Standard classifications'.

Centrality

Centrality is a measure of how far a municipality is from service functions and major employers, see 'Standard classifications'.

Economic status

This variable covers the person's own perception of the main activity on the date of the interview. Before 2021 the group "Other" included people on work assessment allowance.

• Working
• Unemployed
• In retirement
• Disabled or unable to work
• Student or pupil (including compulsory military service)
• Other (including fulfilling domestic task and care responsibilities)

Standard for county

Standard for sex

Standard for centrality

Housing conditions.

Division for income and living conditions statistics.

National and county.

The Survey of Living Conditions EU-SILC is carried out annually. The topic of housing conditions is collected and published every three years, with the next publication in 2026. Some indicators are collected annually.

In 2011, the data collection of the national topics in the Survey on Living Conditions was merged with the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). EU-SILC is a European sample survey of income, social exclusion and living conditions that is coordinated through the EU's statistics agency Eurostat and anchored in the European Statistical System (ESS). Cross-sectional and panel files are sent to Eurostat annually. EU-SILC microdata is available to researchers and students through Eurostat.

Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing. Anonymised files are available for researchers through Sikt.

Purpose

The main purpose of the Housing conditions statistics is both to provide an overview of housing conditions in Norway, and to show whether certain groups are more exposed to poor housing conditions.

The purpose of the Norwegian Survey of Living Conditions EU-SILC is to give insight into the main aspects of and differences in living conditions and follow their development over time. The Norwegian Survey of Living Conditions EU-SILC will over a 3-year period be able to cover the major aspects of living conditions in the Norwegian population.

Background

The first surveys of living conditions in Norway were conducted six times between 1973 and 1995. These surveys shed light on the general components of living conditions; economics, housing conditions, leisure, social contact, health, education, employment and working conditions.

In 1996 a coordinated system of surveys was introduced. The system consisted of annual surveys with a repeating panel survey (EU-SILC from 2003) and a set of national rotating topics repeated every three years. The rotating topics were working environment, housing, outdoor activities, victims of crime, health and social relations.

In 2011 the present system for survey-based statistics on living conditions was introduced. A key objective of the new system was better coordination with international requirements connected to EU-SILC. National themes were coordinated with the European EU-SILC. The new system covers the presented topics from previous living condition surveys, in addition to new themes to illuminate political participation, social networks and economic and social problems.

New European regulations on social statistics were introduced in 2021. A common framework were established for all the social statistics regulated by Eurostat (IESS - Integrated European Social Statistics). This affects the parts of the survey that is regulated. There were made some adjustments to the national survey at the same time, e.g. new weights and revisions of the national modules.

In addition to the regular surveys of living conditions, Statistics Norway can on commission conduct individual surveys among selected groups.

The main users are government ministries, directorates, and research communities in the areas of working environment, health care, housing, leisure and local environment and living conditions in general.

Data from the survey is also widely used by the media and the general public.

No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months’ advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.

Information on housing conditions can also be found in register-based statistics on Housing conditions. This allows for a significantly more detailed geographical breakdown, but includes fewer variables and less information.

The Survey of Consumer Expenditure also covers some indicators of expenditure on housing expenses.

The statistics on Housing conditions covers some of the same indicators as the statistics on Poverty-related problems. Poverty-related problems include indicators on housing cost burden, and problems paying housing costs.

The wealth and income information in the survey is linked from the register information in the Income and wealth statistics. In addition, some demographic information is used, as well as information on education and benefits.

The living conditions survey EU-SILC is a European sample survey on income, social inclusion and living conditions which is coordinated via the EU's statistical body Eurostat. Eurostat publishes results from the survey on its website, so that it is possible to compare Norway with the other European countries. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/income-and-living-conditions/overview

The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).

Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples.

The population is residents aged 16 years and over not living in institutions.

Data sources are interview data from representative sample surveys and various associated registries. Income data is collected from Statistics Norway's income register, which is mainly based on information from the tax return.

The gross sample for the Survey on Living Conditions, EU-SILC comprises approximately 11,500 individuals. The sample is drawn according to the procedures for random selection.

Data collection

Data collection is done by telephone (Computer Assisted Telephone Interview CATI). Data collection for the Survey of Living Conditions EU-SILC mainly occurs from January to June in the year of interview.

The interview takes place using a computer-based questionnaire. The questionnaire includes various controls to prevent incorrect answers or registration errors during the interview. In some cases, the interviewer receives warnings for the registered response. In other cases, there is a limit on values that cannot be exceeded. Moreover, it verifies that only valid codes are recorded.

Surveys that collect information on industry and occupation are encoded by Statistics Norway.

The sample consists of people. The analysis unit is primarily a person, but can in some cases be a household. Using the household as the unit of analysis requires the use of household weights.

Information on income, education and housing are linked from administrative registers.

Estimation

The gross sample is drawn so that it reflects the population, but beacuase non-response is unequal across groups, the net sample is not representative. This bias varies across characteristics and variables. To adjust for bias in the net sample compared to the population, we use weights. The weights let answers from individuals with underrepresented characteristics count more, while answers from individuals with characteristics that are overrepresented count less. The weight thus adjusts for bias compared to the population the statistics are supposed to cover. The figures are calibrated against register information on sex, age, immigration background, income, education, county and family size.

The figures in the statbank are published as percentages and estimated numbers in the population.

For households with missing interview data about housing expenses, values ​​are imputed based on responses from similar households. Mortgage expenses are imputed based on information on debt from the income register. From 2021, information tenure status is obtained from the register for households and dwellings if the questions are not answered in the interview.

Interviewers and everyone who works at Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality. Statistics Norway has its own data protection officer.

Statistics Norway does not publish figures where there is a risk of identifying individual data about persons or households.

More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.

In 2021 several changes were made to the Survey on living conditions EU-SILC, which may cause breaks in time series. The changes entailed an alteration in the order of the interview questions and in question wording.

The same year, new weights were developed. The main differences compared to the previous weights are that the net sample previously was weighted so that it corresponded to the gross sample, whereas the new weights are calibrated to reflect the population. In addition, the new weights include more population characteristics: immigration background, county and income, in addition to gender, age group and family size.

In the statistics on Poverty problems, figures from the years before 2021 have been revised with new weights to improve comparabilty of the data. Indicators where questions or calculations have been altered are marked with footnotes in the statbank.

Non-response errors

The gross sample is drawn to be representative for the Norwegian population and consists of about 11 500 persons annually.

Not all persons in the gross sample participates in the survey. The persons who does not participate represent a non-response group in the sample. Because non-response differs between groups, the net sample will not be fully representative for the Norwegian population. This bias will vary for different groups and variables in question.

To adjust for some of the biases in the net sample, figures in the tables are weighted. The following variables are included in the weighting for non-response: Sex, age, education level, income, family size, immigrant background and county (fylke).

Previously published data were updated with new weights August 16th 2022.

Sampling errors

The uncertainty of findings based on a sample from the population is often called sampling variance. The standard deviation is a measure of this uncertainty. The size of the standard deviation depends, among other factors, on the number of observations in the sample, and on the distribution of the current variable in the whole population.

Statistic Norway has not made exact calculations to compute standard deviation for the findings. However, in table 1, the approximate size of standard deviation is given for observed percentages.

To illustrate the uncertainty associated with a percentage, we can use an interval to give the level of the true value of an estimated quantity (the value obtained if making observation on the whole population instead of observation based on a part of the population). Such intervals are called confidence intervals if constructed in a special way. In this connection one can use the following method: let M be the estimated quantity, and S the estimate of standard deviation of M. The confidence interval will be an interval with limits (M - 2*S) and (M + 2*S). This method will give, with approximately 95 per cent probability, an interval containing the true value.

Answers from the Living Conditions Survey EU-SILC are combined with data from the income register. Register data on income is used both as a source of income variables, but from 2021 income is also included in the weights that adjust for non-response. As a rule, we use income data from the year before the survey is carried out. However, because data from the previous year is only available at the end of the year the survey is carried out, the survey data is first linked with income data from two years before the survey. These data are used in preliminary weights, which are used in the publication of national statistics. In the publication of the statistics on poverty problems, we use data with income from the year before the survey is carried out.

At the time of the publication of the 2021 data of Poverty-related problems, revised figures were published for previous years. The most important change in the revised figures was the weighting method (see Comparability over time and space above). This caused a slight increase in the proportion of the population with poverty problems. For example, the proportion lacking at least one material good in 2021 was 14.8 per cent with the old weight compared to 16.1 per cent with the new weight. The proportion who lack at least one social good increased from 10 to 11 per cent and the proportion who have at least one payment problem increased from 5.5 to 5.9 per cent.

When publishing the 2022 data, figures for all previous cohorts were revised again. This was due to improvements in the weighting routine and generally led to very small changes in the figures. The percentages are typically either unchanged or changed by 0.1 percentage point. In smaller groups, some larger changes may be found. The changes in population estimates are also generally small, but some figures have changed by 3-4,000 persons.

For some variables, the revision of the 2021 figures is somewhat larger. This applies to the indicators on housing cost burden and tenure status. These changes were due to a new imputation routine, where information from registers is used to correct for missing responses. This method is not applied on the data from the years before 2021.