huishouddata

Huishouddata, Dutch for household data, is a category of data describing households and their members, used to study demographic, economic, and social patterns. It covers who lives in a household, the relationships among residents, and the living conditions and resources of the household.

Typical variables include household size and composition, dwelling type and tenure, income and expenditures, employment status of household members, education, age and sex, and housing or energy consumption. The data are collected in cross-sectional surveys and longitudinal studies and can be linked with other data sources for richer analysis.

Sources include national statistical offices, census operations, large-scale household surveys, and administrative registers. Data may be released as aggregated statistics or as microdata under controlled access, with anonymization and privacy safeguards to protect individuals.

Applications include monitoring poverty and inequality, evaluating housing and energy policies, planning services and infrastructure, and informing research in demography, sociology, and economics.

Challenges involve ensuring representativeness, harmonizing definitions across surveys, maintaining data quality, and handling privacy when linking records. Internationally, huishouddata concepts are aligned with standard statistical classifications and European data initiatives.

See also: national statistics office, census, household survey, microdata.