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Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey 2007-2008

LAO People's Democratic Republic, 2007 - 2008
Reference ID
LAO_LSB_LECS-2007-2008_v1.0
Producer(s)
Lao Lao Statistics Bureau
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Jun 14, 2026
Last modified
Jun 15, 2026
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  • Identification
  • Version
  • Scope
  • Coverage
  • Producers and sponsors
  • Sampling
  • Survey instrument
  • Data collection
  • Data processing
  • Data appraisal
  • Data Access
  • Disclaimer and copyrights
  • Contacts
  • Metadata production

    • Identification

    Survey ID number

    LAO_LSB_LECS-2007-2008_v1.0
    Title

    Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey 2007-2008
    Abbreviation or Acronym

    LECS IV 2007-2008
    Country
    Name Country code
    LAO People's Democratic Republic LAO
    Study type

    Income/Expenditure/Household Survey [hh/ies]
    Series Information

    The Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey (LECS) is the largest and most important survey undertaken by the Lao Lao Statistics Bureau (LSB). It is not only large in sample size, it also covers a wide range of subject matter areas related to the household living situation. It is conducted over a period 12 months. The current survey is the fourth in the series. The first was conducted in 1992/93, the second in 1997/98, and the thirtd in 2002/03.
    Abstract

    The Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey (LECS) is the largest sample survey and the most important of the Lao PDR. The objective of the survey is to provide data on the household living situation for analysis and research. It is conducted over a period of 12 months. The results of the survey are valuable and widely used for the assessment and evaluation of the social-economic development of the country. Also included are benchmark data for poverty reduction programme for the country.

         The fourth expenditure and consumption survey (LECS 4) in Lao PDR is a survey on the socio-economic situation at the household level. This survey is conducted every 5 years.  The series of surveys started in 1992, with the main statistical data collection unit as the household. This is a sample survey which is carried out in every province and district all over the country. The survey was undertaken from April 2007 to March 2008 (for a period of 12 months), in order to be able to provide data on expenditure and consumption covering all seasons and relating to aspects of every area and region in the Lao PDR.

     The purpose of the LECS is to estimate the expenditure and consumption of households, as well as the production, investment, accumulation and other socio-economic aspects of the households in the formal and informal sector of the economy.

     The results of LECS in Lao PDR will provide necessary data to be used for calculation of various indicators and are intended for socio-economic planning.  It will also provide data for the estimation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), definition of poverty line, data on nutrition and other important information. 

     The main objectives of the survey are:
    • Estimation at macro level for national accounts, including private consumption, household investment, production and income from agriculture and household business;
    • Structure of household consumption (weight system) for consumption price index calculation (CPI);
    • Estimation of labor force;
    • Nutrition statistics;
    • Poverty statistics and statistics of income distribution.
    Kind of Data

    Sample survey data [ssd]
    Unit of Analysis

    The units of analysis of the survey are: individuals, households, and communities.

    Version

    Version Description

    Version 1.1 - Edited data, first version, for internal use only
    Version Date

    2009-11-20

    Scope

    Notes

    The scope of the Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey 2007-2008 includes:

    • HOUSEHOLDS: Household consumption, parents, education, labor force participation, victimization, nutrition, health check, possession of durables and assets, housing conditions, household businesses, agricultural households, health status and services, health costs, purchases and selling of durables, incomes and transfers, borrowing and lending by households.
    • TIME USE: Time spent for a period of 24 hours for 22 activities
    • PRICES: Prices for 92 basic goods and services recorded in nearest local market
    • VILLAGES: Demography, general economic conditions, access to services, agriculture, prices
    • DIARY: All household transactions during sampled months. Transactions cover consumption / expenditure, household business, agriculture and investment outlays
    Topics
    Topic Vocabulary URI
    ECONOMICS [1] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    consumption/consumer behaviour [1.1] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    economic conditions and indicators [1.2] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    income, property and investment/saving [1.5] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    rural economics [1.6] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    TRADE, INDUSTRY AND MARKETS [2] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    agricultural, forestry and rural industry [2.1] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    employment [3.1] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    crime [5.1] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    EDUCATION [6] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    basic skills education [6.1] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    compulsory and pre-school education [6.2] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    accidents and injuries [8.1] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    general health [8.4] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    health care and medical treatment [8.5] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    nutrition [8.7] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    housing [10.1] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    time use [13.9] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    migration [14.3] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common
    morbidity and mortality [14.4] CESSDA http://www.nesstar.org/rdf/common

    Coverage

    Geographic Coverage

    National Urban/Rural
    rural villages with access to road/rural villages without access to road Three Regions: North, Central, South
    Universe

    All private households in Lao PDR

    Producers and sponsors

    Primary investigators
    Name Affiliation
    Lao Lao Statistics Bureau Ministry of Planning and Investment
    Funding Agency/Sponsor
    Name Abbreviation
    Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency SIDA

    Sampling

    Sampling Procedure

    I. Description of Sample Village

    The survey design for the LECS 4 uses the same methodology and sampling technique as used in the LECS 3. The sample selection is conducted in two steps. The first step is selection of sample villages using the zoom selection methodology according to the proportion of the population (PPS). Village unit is distributed according to the following echelon: village classified by province, district, rural area with access to road and rural area without access to road. The number of sample villages in each province is between 17 to 48 villages depending on the number of villages, and the number of households in every survey area.

    Comparing the last two surveys, LECS 3 and LECS 4, the number of sample villages decreased from 540 to 518 villages. This is due to the situation of allocation and unification of small villages into larger villages, which in past years has appeared in every province in the whole country. In order to assure normal rule of distribution of sample, the number of sample households has been allotted from 15 to 16 per village.

    Each month the number of sample villages is almost the same, because the sample has been selected as zoom for every month. II. Selection of Sample Household

    In the present expenditure and consumption survey, half of the number of households is the same as households that were surveyed in the LECS 3, and the other half are new households that previously were not surveyed. The selection of households in the sample uses the zoom methodology on arbitrary and systematic basis. Selection of the 8 sample households from the survey of LECS 3 uses the zoom methodology on arbitrary basis by taking part in a lottery among LECS 3 households. New 8 sample households are selected among the other households in the village using the same methodology. Together, the number of sample households in one village is 16. The selection of sample households is based on the number of existing households in the village at the time of the conduct of the survey. If the village has 16 or less households, all households are covered by the survey.

    See details in "Sampling Design", under Technical Documents.
    Weighting

    Please refer to the section "Calculation of Sample Weights" in Appendix A of the Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey Final Report found in External Resources.

    Survey instrument

    Questionnaires

    I. Household questionnaire

    • Household composition
    • Parents
    • Education
    • Labor Force
    • Victimization
    • Nutrition
    • Durables
    • Construction Activities
    • Household Business
    • Household Operation
    • Agriculture
    • Health
    • Purchase
    • Income
    • Borrowing
      II. Diary sheet
      III. Price
      IV. Time use
    Methodology notes

    Data entry used the MS Access software.

    Data collection

    Dates of Data Collection
    Start End
    2007-04 2008-03
    Mode of data collection
    • Face-to-face [f2f]
    Data Collectors
    Name Affiliation Abbreviation
    Lao Statistics Bureau Ministry of Planning and Investment LSB
    Supervision

    Each team comprised 1 supervisor and 2 enumerators for each village.
    Data Collection Notes

    The training for trainers and supervisors was conducted for 5 days at the Lao Statistics Bureau, Vientian Capital, with the participation of all staff from the Statistics Section from 17 provinces.

    The training for enumerators lasted 11 days and was held at 4 points:

    • first point at Sayabouly province from 8 provinces
    • second point at Vientiane Capital for 2 provinces from center
    • third point at Savannaket province for central part and
    • fourth point at Champasack province for 4 provinces from south

    Data processing

    Data Editing

    Data editing included:
    Structure checking and completeness
    Checking and coding

    Data appraisal

    Estimates of Sampling Error

    Sampling errors have been calculated for some important variables based on the confidence of 95% ("margin of errors"). All confidence intervals are in absolute figures. The (average?) household consumption is 2.170.7 thousand kips, and with a confidence interval of 5%, it means that there is a 95% confidence that the true value lies between 2.158.3 kips and 2.183.0 kips.

    Data Access

    Access authority
    Name Affiliation URL Email
    Director General Lao Statistics Bureau https://www.lsb.gov.la nscp@etllao.com
    Confidentiality
    Is signing of a confidentiality declaration required? Confidentiality declaration text
    yes The Statistics Law of Lao PDR guarantees that identities of respondents are kept confidential.

    Before being granted access to the dataset, all users have to formally agree:
    1. To make no copies of any files or portions of files to which s/he is granted access except those authorized by the data depositor.
    2. Not to use any technique in an attempt to learn the identity of any person, establishment, or sampling unit not identified on public use data files.
    3. To hold in strictest confidence the identification of any establishment or individual that may be inadvertently revealed in any documents or discussion, or analysis. Such inadvertent identification revealed in her/his analysis will be immediately brought to the attention of the data depositor.
    Access conditions

    Authorization to use this data is granted to designated individuals in the concerned division of the Lao Statistics Bureau (LSB). Under no circumstances shall the authorized user reproduce, distribute, sell or lend the entire data or parts thereof to any other data user apart from himself or that of authorized employees in the DoS.
    Citation requirements

    Lao Statistics Bureau and Sida. Lao PDR Expenditure and Consumption Survey 2007/2008, Final Report. Vientiane, Lao PDR: Lao Statistics Bureau

    Disclaimer and copyrights

    Disclaimer

    The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
    Copyright

    (c) 2010, Lao Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Lao PDR

    Contacts

    Contacts
    Name Affiliation Email URL
    Deputy Director Data Services Division, Lao Statistics Bureau nscit@etllao https://www.lsb.gov.la

    Metadata production

    DDI Document ID

    LAO_LSB_LECS-2007-2008_m_EN_v1.0
    Producers
    Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
    Mr. Deuansavanh THAMMACHACK Deuan Lao Statistics Bureau Documenter
    Ms. Souchalith NORKEO Soulith Lao Statistics Bureau Documenter
    Ms. Chansaleum KONGKEO Leum Lao Statistics Bureau Documenter
    Mr. Phoupath SINGTHAVONGXAY Path Lao Statistics Bureau Documenter
    Mr. Sengsouvanh Touie Lao Statistics Bureau Documenter
    Date of Metadata Production

    2010-06-15

    Metadata version

    DDI Document version

    Version 1.0 (November 2009)
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