Living Standards Survey 1999

The questionnaire was based on the standard LSMS for the CIS countries, and adapted and abridged for Tajikistan. In particular the health section was extended to allow for more in depth information to be collected and a section on food security was also added. The employment section was reduced and excludes information on searching for employment.

The questionnaires were translated into Tajik, Russian and Uzbek.

The TLSS consists of three parts: a household questionnaire, a community level questionnaire and a price questionnaire.

Household questionnaire: the Household questionnaire is comprised of 10 sections covering both household and individual aspects.

Community/Population point Questionnaire: the Community level or Population Point Questionnaire consists of 8 sections. The community level questionnaire provides information on differences in demographic and economic infrastructure. Open-ended questions in the questionnaire were not coded and hence information on the responses to these qualitative questions is not provided in the data sets.

Summary of Section contents

The brief descriptions below provide a summary of the information found in each section. The descriptions are by no means exhaustive of the information covered by the survey and users of the survey need to refer to each particular section of the questionnaire for a complete picture of the information gathered.

Household information/roster
This includes individual level information of all individuals in the household. It establishes who belongs to the household at the time of the interview. Information on gender, age, relation to household head and marital status are included. In the question relating to family status, question 7, “Nekared” means married where nekar is the Islamic (arabic) term for marriage contract. Under Islamic law a man may marry more than once (up-to four wives at any one time). Although during the Soviet period it was illegal to be married to more than one woman this practice did go on. There may be households where the household head is not present but the wife is married or nekared, or in the same household a respondent may answer married and another nekared to the household head.

Dwelling
This section includes information covering the type of dwelling, availability of utilities and water supply as well as questions pertaining to dwelling expenses, rents, and the payment of utilities and other household expenses. Information is at the household level.

Education
This section includes all individuals aged 7 years and older and looks at educational attainment of individuals and reasons for not continuing education for those who are not currently studying. Questions related to educational expenditures at the household level are also covered. Schooling in Tajikistan is compulsory for grades (classes) 1-9. Primary level education refers to grades 1 - 4 for children aged 7 to 11 years old. General secondary level education refers to grades 5-9, corresponding to the age group 12-16 year olds. Post-compulsory schooling can be divided into three types of school:

• Upper secondary education covers the grades 10 and 11.
• Vocational and Technical schools can start after grade 9 and last around 4 years. These schools can also start after grade 11 and then last only two years. Technical institutions provide medical and technical (e.g. engineering) education as well as in the field of the arts while vocational schools
  provide training for employment in specialized occupation.
• Tertiary or University education can be entered after completing all 11 grades.
• Kindergarten schools offer pre-compulsory education for children aged 3 – 6 years old and information on this type of schooling is not covered in this section.

Health
This section examines individual health status and the nature of any illness over the recent months. Additional questions relate to more detailed information on the use of health care services and hospitals, including expenses incurred due to ill health. Section 4B includes a few terms, abbreviations and acronyms that need further clarification. A feldscher is an assistant to a physician. Mediniski dom or FAPs are clinics staffed by physical assistants and/or midwifes and a SUB is a local clinic. CRH is a local hospital while an oblast hospital is a regional hospital based in the oblast administrative centre, and the Repub. Hospital is a national hospital based in the capital, Dushanbe. The latter two are both public hospitals.

Employment
This section covers individuals aged 11 years and over. The first part of this section looks at the different activities in which individuals are involved in order to determine if a person is engaged in an income generating activity. Those who are engaged in such activities are required to answer questions in Part B. This part relates to the nature of the work and the organization the individual is attached to as well as questions relating to income, cash income and in-kind payments. There are also a few questions relating to additional income generating activities in addition to the main activity. Part C examines employment history in the previous two years.

Migration
This section covers all individuals aged 15 years and older and determines how long respondents have resided in their present location. Part B relates to households who were displaced, detailing how many in the family were affected and for what reason. Part C relates to the property left by those who are displaced.

Sources of Income of the Household
This section covers specified sources of income over the previous month from all members in the household. Part A includes wage income, movable property and alimony, while part B includes information on income from social protection payments, such as employment pensions and family allowances. Part B also includes a summary question on total income from all sources for all household members.

Consumption and Expenditures
This section gathers information on household expenditure and in particular consumption. Part A focuses on a summary of 24 categories of household expenditures undertaken over the last month and the last year. Part B covers information on 33 specified food items, including expenditure on the item as well as the value of growing and consuming the goods. Part C provides information on issues of food security and coping strategies and includes questions on subjective perceptions of welfare.

List of Durables
This section includes ownership of 16 durable items, including motorcycles and cars.

Agriculture
This section provides information across a variety of agricultural aspects. Part A focuses on land use and ownership across different specified land types, including how much was earned across land types. Part B includes questions on costs of inputs and outputs of land and livestock. Part C covers income and expenditure across 17 specified agricultural related property including different livestock and different equipment.

Female Questionnaire
This section of the questionnaire looks at particular aspects of the health of married women, in particular fertility issues. Another part of this section focuses on information on each child born to the respondent.

Population Point /Community
This section provides information on the nature of the different population points. Part 1 covers demographic information such as population of the community and the ethnic make-up. The part focusing on infrastructure includes questions on the availability of different utilities, distance from the capital and the quality of the roads. A part on the nature of the economy of the population point includes information on the economic activity in the area, the existence of state enterprises and to what extent economic conditions have changed over the last year. Another part focuses on information on refugees or displaced persons in the population point. There is a section on education relating to the school attendance of boy and girls and to the quality of the schools in the area. Information on the availability of health facilities and medication, as well as the quality of these services is also included. A section on agriculture focuses on the nature of the agricultural activities in the community, including questions on irrigation and the use of specific inputs. There is also a question on the average wage of specified agricultural labour. The final part provides information on the availability and accessibility of 45 different institutions and services, for example, dentists, kindergartens, state employment services, theatres and bus stations.