Survey of consumer expenditure, 2007-2009

Total consumption expenditure . Total consumption expenditure consists of payments by the household during the accounting period (converted to figures for the whole year). Some expenses, such as housing expenses, purchase of durable consumer goods (cars, electrical household appliances, etc.), expensive clothing, package tours etc. have been recorded by means of interviews. Consumption expenditure for durable consumer goods corresponds to the difference between expense in connection with the purchase of new goods and income resulting from any sale (or trade-in) of old goods. For this reason certain tables present negative figures, for instance for the commodity group purchase of transport equipment.

Total consumption expenditure does not include expenses for direct taxes, social security contributions, gifts given away, investments in real property (such as the purchase of a dwelling and expenses for the building and extension of existing building), contractual savings (e.g. pension contribution, loan instalments, life insurance premium, etc.).

In addition to payments, total consumption expenditure includes the value of consumption of self-produced commodities and gifts received. The value of self-produced commodities and gifts received is estimated according to retail prices.

Income . The information is taken from tax assessment registers. Income is calculated as pensionable earnings - assessed taxes + tax deductions.

From 1996 is the income, and from 1998 is education taken from the incomeregister.

Expenses for housing, power and fuel include expenses related to the households permanent dwelling as well as to holiday houses. Dwellings are assessed for tax purposes using one of two methods, either per cent assessment or account assessment. For households having their own per cent assessed dwelling, expenses include interest on loans for the dwelling, repairs and maintenance, insurance, water rates and various other expenses. For dwellings assessed according to accounts, the housing expenses comprise stipulated annual rent according to the last tax assessment. For households with a rented dwelling, the housing expenses include rent and interest on loans for housing deposits. From 1996 has Statistics Norway introduced a new classification of consumption - COICOP (Classification of individual Consumption by Purpose). For households having their own per cent assessed dwelling, the expenses up till the introduction of COICOP has been defined as expenses including interest on loans for the dwelling, repairs and maintenance, insurance, water rates and various other expenses. After introduction of COICOP, interest is no longer considered as consumption. For owners of this kind of dwelling there will be imputed a rent, which is added as housing expense.

The value of a free dwelling corresponds to the amount assessed at the latest tax assessment. Expenses for holiday houses include any interest on loans, insurance and other costs. For households having rented a holiday house, this expense is included. Expenses for maintenance comprise purchase of commodities, wages and salaries and other expenses in connection with maintenance of the households own dwelling, rented dwelling and holiday house.

Household . A household consists of all persons living in the same dwelling and eating at least one meal together per day. Persons who are temporarily absent due to school; vacation, admission to hospital, military service etc. are included.

Main income earner . The person who contributes most to the financial support of the household.

Age . A persons age equals the difference between the year of the households participation in the survey and the year the person was born.

Type of household . Couples comprise both married and non-married cohabiting couples, and have been classified in age groups on the basis of the age of the older person. Child means an unmarried person living with one or both parents/guardians. The groups couples without children, couples with children and mother or father with children comprise no persons other than those mentioned.

Region

The various regions consist of the following counties

Østlandet: Oslo, Akershus, Østfold, Hedmark, Oppland,

Buskerud, Vestfold and Telemark

Agder and Rogaland: Aust-Agder, Vest-Agder and Rogaland

Vestlandet: Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane, Møre og Romsdal

Trøndelag: Sør-Trøndelag and Nord-Trøndelag

Nord-Norge: Nordland, Troms and Finnmark

From 1997 the various regions consist of the following counties

Østlandet and Akershus: Oslo and Akershus

Hedmark and Oppland Hedmark and Oppland

Sørøstlandet: Østfold, Buskerud, Vestfold and Telemark

Agder and Rogaland Aust-Agder, Vest-Agder and Rogaland

Vestlandet Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane, Møre og Romsdal

Trøndelag Sør-Trøndelag and Nord-Trøndelag

Nord-Norge Nordland, Troms and Finnmark

Area of residence. Areas are delimited on the basis of Statistics Norways Standard Classification of Municipalities, 1985 (SNS No. 4), according to classification codes for population density.

From 1997 are Area of residence delimited on the basis of Statistics Norways Standard Classification of Municipalities, 1994 (NOS C 192), according to classification codes for population density.

The following classification is used

Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim

Densely populated areas except Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim comprise municipalities except Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim, where 50 per cent of the population or more live in densely populated areas.

Sparsely populated areas comprise municipalities where less than 50 per cent of the population live in densely populated areas.

A densely populated area is an area with at least 200 inhabitants as of 1 November 1980, or 3. November 1990 after 1997 and where the distance to the nearest house is less than 50 metres. A cluster of houses located more than 50 metres from a densely built-up area is, however, regarded as a part of the densely populated area if the house cluster naturally belongs to the densely built-up area.

Classification of expenditure. The most detailed classification in the publication contains 470 categories of commodities and services. These categories are aggregated to various levels 150, 37 and 9 commodity and service categories.

After 1996 will the survey be published with the new classification - COICOP (Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose). The classification will make international comparison easier. The classification has 12 main groups, and the distribution of commodity and services are subordinated some new principles.

Ownership of durable goods. The percentages of households with certain durable goods comprise households which own the goods, but not households which only have the goods at their disposal.