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LSMS Household Business Indicators for Sub-Saharan Africa 2014-2024
Harmonized Dataset

Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria...and 2 more, 2014 - 2025
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Reference ID
AFR_2014-2024_LSMS-HBI_v01_M
Producer(s)
Jiapei Zhang, Ivette Contreras, Amparo Palacios-Lopez
Collection(s)
Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS)
Metadata
Documentation in PDF DDI/XML JSON
Created on
Sep 28, 2026
Last modified
Sep 28, 2026
Page views
750
Downloads
28
  • Identification
  • Version
  • Coverage
  • Producers and sponsors
  • Data collection
  • Access policy
  • Disclaimer and copyrights
  • Contacts
  • Metadata production

    • Identification

    Survey ID number
    AFR_2014-2024_LSMS-HBI_v01_M
    Title
    LSMS Household Business Indicators for Sub-Saharan Africa 2014-2024
    Subtitle
    Harmonized Dataset
    Abbreviation or Acronym
    LSMS-HBI 2014-24
    Country/Economy
    Name Country code
    Ethiopia ETH
    Malawi MWI
    Nigeria NGA
    Tanzania TZA
    Uganda UGA
    Study type
    Living Standards Measurement Study [hh/lsms]
    Abstract
    The LSMS Household Business Indicators for Sub-Saharan Africa (LSMS-HBI) is a harmonized dataset of indicators measuring household business activity and employment across five Sub-Saharan African countries: Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. The dataset was constructed from existing nationally representative household surveys — specifically, the Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) panel surveys — and covers the two most recently conducted survey waves per country, enabling both cross-country comparisons and temporal analyses.

    The primary purpose of the dataset is to provide researchers, policymakers, and data users with a consistent, comparable set of measures on the prevalence, characteristics, financing, formalization, constraints, and financial performance of household businesses, as well as the structure, demographics, and earnings of the broader workforce. The indicators are designed to support analysis of the role of household businesses in economic development, job creation, and household welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa.
    Kind of Data
    Sample survey data [ssd]
    Unit of Analysis
    Household and individual

    Version

    Version Description
    Version 01: Edited, anonymized dataset for public distribution.
    Version Date
    2026-09-24
    Version Notes

    Harmonized dataset derived from survey data.

    Coverage

    Geographic Coverage

    National coverage

    Producers and sponsors

    Primary investigators
    Name Affiliation
    Jiapei Zhang World Bank Group
    Ivette Contreras World Bank Group
    Amparo Palacios-Lopez World Bank Group

    Data collection

    Dates of Data Collection
    Start End Cycle
    2018-09 2019-08 Ethiopia Wave 4
    2021-09 2022-06 Ethiopia Wave 5
    2019-04 2020-03 Malawi Wave 4
    2024-07 2025-01 Malawi Wave 5
    2018-07 2019-02 Nigeria Wave 4
    2023-07 2024-03 Nigeria Wave 5
    2014-10 2015-10 Tanzania Wave 4
    2020-12 2022-01 Tanzania Wave 5
    2018-02 2019-02 Uganda Wave 7
    2019-03 2020-02 Uganda Wave 8

    Access policy

    Access conditions

    Before being granted access to the dataset, all users have to formally agree:

    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    Citation requirements

    Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:

    • The identification of the primary investigators
    • The title of the survey (including country, acronym, and year of implementation)
    • The survey reference number
    • The source and date of download

    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.

    Contacts

    Contacts
    Name Affiliation Email
    Amparo Palacios-Lopez Development Research Group, World Bank Group apalacioslopez@worldbank.org
    Ivette Contreras Development Research Group, World Bank Group icontreras@worldbankgroup.org
    Jiapei Zhang Development Research Group, World Bank Group jzhang30@worldbank.org

    Metadata production

    DDI Document ID
    DDI_AFR_2014-2024_LSMS-HBI_v01_M
    Producers
    Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
    Development Data Group DECDG World Bank Group

    Documentation of the survey

    Metadata version

    DDI Document version
    Version 01 (September 2026)
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