Ongoing economic calculations

The current economic accounts (LWR) of private households are a continuous collection of official statistics . It is carried out jointly by the Federal Statistical Office and the State Statistical Offices . 8,000 private households take part in the survey every year. For three months each, they provide detailed information on their income, expenditure, accumulation of assets, housing conditions and equipment with consumer goods as well as on socio- demographic and socio-economic characteristics. The LWR are an important source of data for assessing the income situation and consumer behavior of the general population and its individual groups.

The results of the LWR are the data basis for determining the detailed weighing schemes of the cost of living index as well as for the usage calculations of the national accounts . The main users are the federal ministries and official statistics.

history

Current economic calculations have been carried out in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1949. Until 1999 only certain household types were included, since 1999 the sample has been drawn from all households (for exceptions see below).

Legal basis

The LWR are collected on the basis of the law on the statistics of household accounts and the law on statistics for federal purposes (BStatG).

Sample and survey

The sample consists mainly of participants in the last income and expenditure sample (EVS). It is a quota sample . In the years in which an EVS survey takes place, the LWR results are generated from the EVS and are not collected independently.

The population consists of private households with a monthly net household income of up to € 18,000, with the exception of households of the self-employed and farmers. Participation is voluntary. The participating households receive an allowance; they can also take part in the survey for several years.

The survey takes place in writing and is carried out by the state statistical offices. The households provide one-off “general information” on socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics, the housing situation and the equipment with household goods (reference date January 1) and then keep a household book for a quarter .

Publication and Access

The results of the “general information” are published towards the end of the following year, results from the budget book in the year after next. The publication takes place in the series 15, series 1 and 2, of the Federal Statistical Office; Comments on results and method reports appear in the journal Wirtschaft und Statistik , results at the state level are published by the state statistical offices.

Some tables can be viewed via the online service of the Federal Statistical Office and via the GENESIS-Online database system . Access to the factually anonymized data sets is only possible for research institutions under strict conditions.