What does EU-SILC (LEBEN IN EUROPA) describe?
LEBEN IN EUROPA is the name of the German survey conducted within the scope of the Community statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) conducted all over Europe. Issues of the survey are not only the various income elements, but also other important areas of life such as the housing situation or health. EU-SILC is the new standard data source used to measure poverty and living conditions in the European Union member states. The legal basis of the survey is Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council in connection with the Federal Statistics Law. EU-SILC has been conducted since 2005 in all European Union member states as well as in Norway and Iceland. To ensure the comparability of results, the same variables are covered all over the European Union. Binding minimum standards apply to the survey methods. The survey has been tailored especially to calculating comparable indicators of social inclusion (so-called Laeken indicators) and, consequently, is a major basis for European social policy.
How is EU-SILC (LEBEN IN EUROPA) conducted?
The population of EU-SILC (LEBEN IN EUROPA) is persons in private households in Germany at their main place of residence. Not included are persons in institutional households and persons without fixed abode. The sample of the survey must be drawn by random sampling. The sampling frame for EU-SILC (LEBEN IN EUROPA) is the access panel of households willing to respond (HAUSHALTE HEUTE – households today). HAUSHALTE HEUTE is a co-operation project between private households and official statistics. HAUSHALTE HEUTE is based on the microcensus, which is the largest household survey in Germany. After their last microcensus interview has been finished, the microcensus participants are asked whether they are willing to respond every now and then to voluntary surveys of official statistics. As the households are recruited from the microcensus, which is based on a random sample, samples based on HAUSHALTE HEUTE can be considered as a multi-stage random sample. (During a transition period until 2007, part of the German sample was obtained through a representative quota sample).
For EU-SILC (LEBEN IN EUROPA) some 14,000 households in Germany are questioned every year. The households are questioned in four successive years, which allows performing longitudinal analyses of the results. The survey is conducted by post, using a household questionnaire to cover household variables (for example, on the housing situation) and an individual questionnaire for every household member from the age of 16. The individual questionnaire contains, among other things, questions on the employment situation, on personal income and on health. Households are questioned once a year, that is in the first six months of the year. Field work and data capture are done on a decentralised basis by the statistical offices of the Länder. Then the Federal Statistical Office processes the data for European purposes and publishes the federal result. Data processing includes the imputation of lacking income data because the EU--European Union standards require that lacking income data are subsequently added by applying suitable statistical methods. At the Federal Statistical Office, an imputation method specially developed for EU-SILC--Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (LEBEN IN EUROPA) is applied. Using the microcensus, the collected data are extrapolated to the total population of the Federal Republic of Germany. Extrapolation variables used are, among other things, sex, age, household net income and household type.
When are the results of EU-SILC (LEBEN IN EUROPA) released?
First results of EU-SILC (LEBEN IN EUROPA) are released in autumn of each year. Associated explanations, tables, publications and quality reports are available for free download from the website of the Federal Statistical Office. Also, the poverty indicators calculated on the basis of EU-SILC (LEBEN IN EUROPA) are made available to the general public as part of the regular spring reports of the European Commission. In addition, the poverty indicators of all EU member states are published in the online database of Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, and can be downloaded there free of charge (http://www.destatis.de/europe).
How accurate are the results of EU-SILC (LEBEN IN EUROPA)?
The survey has been designed in a way that possible errors are minimised and controlled. Nevertheless, sample statistics always involve some inaccuracy, even if they are produced with maximum care. Every statistical measurement involves sampling and non-sampling errors (for example measurement errors), which can be limited but not entirely avoided.
The EU-SILC (LEBEN IN EUROPA) results are representative for the population of Germany as a whole. A large number of plausibility checks are carried out in processing the relevant data. After each survey, the random sampling error is calculated for the EU key indicators. The result of that error calculation is submitted to Eurostat in the context of a mandatory quality report on the German EU-SILC survey.
More detailed information on EU-SILC is contained in the quality report (only in German).
Signs and symbols in the tables:
– = no figures or magnitude zero
/ = no data because the numerical value is not sufficiently reliable
. = numerical value unknown or not be disclosed
X = cell blocked for logical reasons
() = limited informational value because numerical value is of limited statistical reliability