Household Finance and Consumption Survey

Presentation of the results of the Eurosystem’s fourth Household Finance and Consumption Survey from 2010

The results of the first euro area Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS), a joint project of the central banks of the euro area, were released by the ECB. Three of the participating countries conducted the survey in conjunction with their statistical offices. The reference year for the majority of the countries was 2010. Slovenia conducted the survey in late 2010. The results mostly relate to a snapshot of a particular moment or to a period of the preceding 12 months; only the income data relates to 2009.

The survey is the subject of the first two issues of the new Statistics Paper Series issued by the ECB.

The key results of the survey were:

• Some 60.1% of households in the euro area owned their main residence, of which 19.4% were under a mortgage. The median[1] value of the owner-occupied main residence was EUR 180,300. Owner-occupiers represented 81.8% of households in Slovenia in 2010, of which 12.5% held a mortgage, while the median value of the main residence was EUR 100,900.

• Other real estate properties were owned by 23.1% of households in the euro area, and the median value of these properties was EUR 103,400. The corresponding figures for Slovenia were 23.2% and EUR 52,400.

• Means of transport were owned by 75.7% of households in the euro area, with a median value of EUR 7,000. Some 80.4% of households in Slovenia owned means of transport, with a median value of EUR 3,000.

• Bank deposits (sight deposits and saving accounts) were held by 96.4% of households (Slovenia: 93.6%), while voluntary private pensions and life insurance were held by 33% of households (Slovenia: 18.3%). Financial assets of any other kind were held by fewer than 15% of households in the euro area and Slovenia alike.

• Holdings of financial assets in the euro area were highly dependent on income: in the top fifth income quintile 26.5% of households held mutual fund points/shares and 24.4% held shares traded on exchanges.

• Some 43.7% of households in the euro area held debt: 23.1% with mortgage debt, and 29.3% with other forms of debt. The median value of mortgage debt at the indebted households (EUR 68,400) was substantially higher than the median value of other debt (EUR 5,000). Meanwhile 44.5% of Slovenian households held debt, of which 14.1% had mortgage debt and 38.9% had other debt. The median value of the mortgage debt was EUR 6,600, while the median value of the other debt was EUR 3,100.

The survey results aimed to contribute to a better understanding on the part of the Eurosystem with regard to the economic and financial structure of the euro area economy. Information about the distribution of assets, debt and income is particularly crucial to a better understanding of monetary policy transmission mechanisms and the impact of macroeconomic shocks on financial stability.

A key feature of the HFCS is that it provides individual household data collected in a harmonised way in 15 euro area countries for a sample of more than 62,000 households. Previously data on the distribution of household assets and liabilities had been rare, and difficult to compare between euro area countries.

The ECB released two reports: the first comprised a review of the main results of the HFCS, while the second concerned the survey methodology (questionnaire, sample, weighting, significance of non-responses and adjustment methods for non-responses). The reports can be found in the HFCN section of the ECB website (under Results and FAQ, 2010 wave).

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[1] The median is the numerical value that divides the upper half of the sample from the lower half. The advantage of the median over the arithmetical mean as an average is that it is less affected by outliers.

Presentation of the results of the Eurosystem’s fourth Household Finance and Consumption Survey from 2014

The second survey covered 84,000 households in 18 euro area countries, plus Poland and Hungary. A total of 2,553 households were surveyed in Slovenia on this occasion, with the survey being conducted in late 2014, as in the majority of the countries covered by the survey. The results mostly relate to a snapshot of a particular moment or to a period of the preceding 12 months; only the income data relates to 2013. Similarly to the first survey, data was collected on households’ assets and liabilities, income and consumption.

The key results of the survey were:

The median[1] assets of euro area households declined from EUR 108,300 in 2010 to EUR 98,400 in 2014. As in the first survey, net wealth was asymmetrically distributed: the 90^th percentile (i.e. the value demarcating the 90% least wealthy households from the 10% wealthiest) stood at EUR 735,500. Median net wealth in Slovenia in 2014 stood at EUR 80,400 (with a 90^th percentile of EUR 346,700). The decline in net wealth was largely attributable to a fall in real estate prices. The size varies from country to country, on account of the differing conditions on their real estate markets and the level of real estate ownership. Prices fell in Greece and Cyprus in particular, but also in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Slovenia.
In Slovenia the median value of real estate owned as the main residence declined from EUR 110,900 in 2010 to EUR 87,800 in 2014 amid a simultaneous fall in owner-occupation from 81.8% to 73.7%. Similarly, the median value of other real estate declined from EUR 52,400 to EUR 30,000 in Slovenia. It should be noted regarding these results that the 2010 sample contained only 343 households.
Another, smaller, factor in this decline was increased indebtedness, which was driven mainly by households at the top end of the net wealth distribution (the median outstanding debt rose by 12.5% from EUR 49,700 to EUR 55,900; it is not reasonable to make such a comparison for Slovenia, given the small sample in 2010, but the amount of debt similarly increases with net wealth).

Some 38.6% of households in Slovenia held debt in 2014, down 5.6 percentage points on the previous survey, with 9.1% holding mortgage debt, and 34.8% other debt. The median value of outstanding mortgage debt also rose significantly compared with 2010, to stand at EUR 30,000 in 2014.

The comparison with 2010 also reveals a slight rise in wealth inequality in the euro area over the period of four years. The Gini coefficient, the most commonly used indicator of inequality, rose from 68% to 69.4% (a value of zero represents perfect equality, while a value of 100% represents perfect inequality, where a single household holds all the wealth). The Gini coefficient for Slovenia stood at 62.8%, while the small sample size means that there is no reliable figure for 2010.

The ECB released two reports: the first comprised a review of the main results of the HFCS, while the second concerned the survey methodology (questionnaire, sample, weighting, significance of non-responses and adjustment methods for non-responses). The reports are in English, and can be found in the HFCN section of the ECB website (under Results and FAQ, 2014 wave).

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[1] The median is the numerical value that divides the upper half of the sample from the lower half. The advantage of the median over the arithmetical mean as an average is that it is less affected by outliers.

Presentation of the results of the Eurosystem’s third Household Finance and Consumption Survey from 2017

The third HFCS covered 91,000 households in 19 euro area countries, plus Croatia, Poland and Hungary. A total of 2,014 households were surveyed in Slovenia on this occasion, with the survey being conducted between March and November 2017, as in the majority of the countries covered by the survey. The results mostly relate to a snapshot of a particular moment or to a period of the preceding 12 months; only the income data relates to 2016. Similarly to the two previous surveys, data was collected on households’ assets and liabilities, income and consumption.

The key results of the survey were:

The median[1] assets of euro area households rose slightly from EUR 98,400 in 2014 to EUR 99,400 in 2017. As in the previous two surveys, net wealth was asymmetrically distributed: the 90^th percentile (i.e. the value demarcating the 90% least wealthy households from the 10% wealthiest) stood at EUR 782,200. Median net wealth in Slovenia increased from EUR 80,400 in 2014 to EUR 91,600 in 2017 (90^th percentile: EUR 406,600).

The rise in net wealth in Slovenia was largely driven by a rise in real estate prices. The median value of real estate owned as the main residence rose from EUR 87,800 in 2014 to EUR 98,000 in 2017, amid a simultaneous rise in the rate of owner-occupation from 73.7% to 76.3%. Similarly, the median value of other real estate rose from EUR 30,400 to EUR 38,400 in Slovenia.

Another slight factor in the increased net wealth was the lower indebtedness of households in Slovenia. Some 38.6% of households held debt in 2014, but the figure had declined by 6.4 percentage points to 32.2% by 2017. Mortgage debt was held by 9.1% of households, unchanged from 2014, while the median value of mortgage debt rose (from EUR 30,000 to EUR 36,400). Other debt was held by 26.9% of households (down 7.9 percentage points on 2014). The share of households in the euro area with holdings of debt remained virtually unchanged (it was down 0.5 percentage points).

The comparison with 2014 also shows wealth inequality to have remained at roughly the same level as three years earlier (the Gini coefficient, the most commonly used indicator of inequality, rose from 69.4% to 69.5%, where a value of zero represents perfect equality, while a value of 100% represents perfect inequality, where a single household holds all the wealth). The Gini coefficient for Slovenia stood at 59.4%, which means that wealth inequality declined slightly (it had stood at 62.9% in 2014).

The ECB released two reports: the first comprised a review of the main results of the HFCS, while the second concerned the survey methodology (questionnaire, sample, weighting, significance of non-responses and adjustment methods for non-responses). The reports are in English, and can be found in the HFCN section of the ECB website (under Results and FAQ, 2017 wave).

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[1] The median is the numerical value that divides the upper half of the sample from the lower half. The advantage of the median over the arithmetical mean as an average is that it is less affected by outliers.

Presentation of the results of the Eurosystem’s fourth Household Finance and Consumption Survey from 2021

The fourth HFCS covered more than 83,000 households from 22 euro area countries, plus Croatia (which at that time was not part of the euro area), Czechia and Hungary. The survey in Slovenia covered 1,951 households, and was conducted between June 2020 and December 2021 with a six-month break in the interim. The survey took considerably longer than planned, owing to circumstances in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic. The results mostly relate to a snapshot of a particular moment or to a period of the preceding 12 months; only the income data relates to 2019 or 2020. Similarly to the previous surveys, data was collected on households’ assets and liabilities, income and consumption.

The key results of the survey were:

The median[1] value of the net wealth of households in the euro area rose from EUR 99,400 in 2017 to EUR 123,500 in 2020. As in the previous surveys, net wealth was asymmetrically distributed: the 90^th percentile (i.e. the value demarcating the 90% least wealthy households from the 10% wealthiest) stood at EUR 1,011,000. Median net wealth in Slovenia increased from EUR 91,600 in 2017 to EUR 118,800 in 2020/21. The 90^th percentile of net wealth (i.e. separating the 10% wealthiest) stood at EUR 505,500.

The growth in net wealth in Slovenia was largely attributable to rising real estate prices. The median value of real estate owned as the main residence rose from EUR 98,000 in 2017 to EUR 120,000 in 2020/21. Similarly, the median value of other real estate rose from EUR 38,400 to EUR 50,000 in Slovenia.

The share of households in Slovenia that hold debt declined from 32.2% to 28.9% in 2020/21. The share of households with mortgage debt was up slightly on the previous survey (10.4% versus 9.1%), while 21.8% of households held debt in some other form (down 5.1 percentage points on 2017).

The increase in mortgage debt on real estate other than the main residence (where the median rose from EUR 30,000 to EUR 38,000) was significantly larger than mortgage debt on the main residence (where the median rose from EUR 35,600 to EUR 36,300).

One interesting piece of information is that the share of households who applied for a loan over the preceding three years but who were rejected or were granted a smaller amount than they requested declined from 31.6% in 2017 to 18% in 2021. This is still above the figure of 10.5% in the euro area overall (10.6% in 2017).

The median gross income in Slovenia rose from EUR 16,400 in 2017 to EUR 25,000 in 2020/21. By way of comparison, the median gross income in the euro area stood at EUR 34,000 in 2020 (up from EUR 30,800 in 2017).

The ECB released two reports in connection with the survey: the first comprised a review of the main results of the HFCS, while the second concerned the survey methodology (questionnaire, sample, weighting, significance of non-responses and adjustment methods for non-responses). The reports are in English, and can be found in the HFCN section of the ECB website (under Results and FAQ, 2021 wave).
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[1] The median is the numerical value that divides the upper half of the sample from the lower half. The advantage of the median over the arithmetical mean as an average is that it is less affected by outliers.

The target reference population for national surveys is all private households and their current members who live in the country at the time of data collection. Persons living in collective households and in institutions are mostly not included in the target population.

A household is defined as a person living alone, or a group of people who live together in the same private dwelling and share expenses, including the joint provision of the essentials of living. Employees or other residents (i.e. live-in domestic servants, persons working in the household for food and lodging, etc.), and flatmates without other family or partnership attachments to household members (e.g. resident boarders, lodgers, tenants, visitors, etc.) are considered separate households.

Subject to the further and specific conditions described below, the following persons must, if they share household expenses, be regarded as household members:

1. persons usually resident in the household and related to other members;

2. persons usually resident in the household and not related to other members;

3. persons ordinarily resident in the household but temporarily absent from dwelling (for reasons of holiday travel, work, education or similar);

4. children of the household being educated away from home;

5. persons absent for long periods, but having household ties: persons working away from home;

6. persons temporarily absent but having household ties: persons in a hospital, nursing home, boarding school, or other institution.

The further conditions for persons to be treated as members of the household are:

• for persons usually resident in the household but temporarily absent from dwelling (3):

• the person currently has no private address elsewhere and the actual or intended duration of absence from the household is less than six months;

• for children of the household being educated away from home (4) and persons absent for long periods but having household ties, such as persons working away from home (5):

• irrespective of the actual or intended duration of absence, if the person is the partner or child of a household member, continues to retain close ties with the household, regularly returns to this address (for instance, at the end of the academic term) and considers it to be their main residence;

• for persons temporarily absent but having household ties: persons in a hospital, nursing home, boarding school, or other institution (6):

• the person has clear financial ties to the household and the actual or expected duration of absence from the household is less than six months.

Sharing in household expenses includes benefiting from expenses (e.g. children, persons with no income), as well as contributing to expenses. If expenses are not shared, then the person constitutes a separate household at the same address.

A person will be considered a resident member of the household if they spend most of their daily night-rest there, evaluated over the past six months (this includes children in joint custody and elderly parents if they spend more days living in the household dwelling than anywhere else).

Persons forming new households or joining existing households will normally be considered members at their new location; similarly, those leaving to live elsewhere will no longer be considered members of the original household. The aforementioned “last six months” criterion is being replaced by the intention to stay for a period of six months or more at the new place of residence. Account has to be taken of what may qualify as “permanent” movements in or out of households. Thus a person who has moved into a household for an indefinite period or with the intention to stay for a period of six months or more is considered a household member, even if they have not yet stayed in the household for six months and have in fact spent a majority of that time at some other place of residence. Similarly, a person who has moved out of the household to some other place of residence with the intention of staying away for six months or more is no longer considered a member of the previous household.

If the person who is temporarily absent is in private accommodation, then whether they are members of this (or their other) household depends on the length of their absence.

Exceptionally, certain categories of persons with very close ties to the household may be included as members irrespective of the length of absence, provided they are not considered members of another private household. In particular, students that live elsewhere but retain close ties with the household, regularly return to this address and consider this address to be their main residence are to be considered part of the household irrespective of their length of stay at the other address.

The units of observation are households and the persons living in them. The questionnaire encompasses questions relating to the household as a whole, and questions relating to an individual member of the selected household. The person who is most familiar with the finances of the household is asked to participate in the survey, but other household members may assist them with the answers.

The SORS works with Banka Slovenije in planning and securing the sample. Persons are randomly selected from the Central Population Register. The households where the selected persons live are surveyed. This method allows for a relatively small number of households to paint a picture of the household sector in Slovenia.

The persons who designate the household are all aged at least 16, and are registered and living in Slovenia. The age of 16 is designated in light of the content of the questionnaire, which envisages certain data for household members aged 16 or over.

The HFCS is compiled from surveying conducted every three years. Given a larger sample, the option of selected persons and households participating in the survey several times in succession to ensure the monitoring of households and household members over time (panel surveying) has not been ruled out.

The survey is conducted in the field, using computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), and takes about 45 minutes to complete. This approach to surveying is used in all the countries of the EMU. Participation in the survey is voluntary. Although it is voluntary, the participation of the selected households in the survey is extremely important, as it allows us to correctly analyse the financial circumstances of households of all types in Slovenia and across the euro area.

Some questions require amounts to be stated in euros. The ideal answer would always be a certain amount. Whenever the respondent does not know or does not want to state a precise answer, it can be stated as a range rather than a specific amount. If there is a question that the respondent does not wish to answer or does not know how, the answer can be omitted. For the sake of the quality of the collected data, respondents are nevertheless asked to answer as many questions as possible and to try to ensure that their information is accurate as possible.

In accordance with the National Statistics Act, Banka Slovenije guarantees the strict confidentiality of the personal data and individual data, which is used solely for statistical purposes.

Personal data processing is undertaken in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation 2016/679), the Personal Data Protection Act, the Decision of the European Central Bank of 17 April 2007 adopting implementing rules concerning data protection at the European Central Bank (ECB/2007/1), and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (Regulation 45/2001).

For more, see the following links:

Information Commissioner of the Republic of Slovenia

European Data Protection Supervisor

Personal Data Protection Act (ZVOP) and related regulations

National Statistics Act (ZDSta)

Annual Programme of Statistical Research for 2010

Annual Programme of Statistical Research for 2014

Annual Programme of Statistical Research for 2017

Annual Programme of Statistical Research for 2020

Annual Programme of Statistical Research for 2021

Annual Programme of Statistical Research for 2023

European Central Bank

Statute of the ESCB and of the ECB

Decision of the European Central Bank of 17 April 2007 adopting implementing rules concerning data protection at the European Central Bank (ECB/2007/1)

The survey collects data at the household level, and certain personal data of household members, in connection with demographics, wealth, employment, income, pensions, consumption and spending, and inheritance and gifts.

Participation in the survey is voluntary, which means that households and individuals can decline to participate or can revoke their consent later. If you decline to participate in the survey or revoke your consent later, we will delete your data without delay and will not use it for the purposes of the survey, unless the survey is at a phase where the data has already been processed (aggregated) and anonymised such that it can no longer be isolated.

A data subject can demand that Banka Slovenije grant access to their personal data, or review or delete their personal data, or restrict processing or object to processing, or require the transmission of the data to another controller under the conditions set out by regulations on personal data protection.

Thus Banka Slovenije, the contractor and all staff who conduct the survey (Banka Slovenije employees and authorised survey personnel) will treat your personal data that you submit within the framework of the survey (name, date of birth, address, your answers to questions) as strictly confidential. The use of data that allows for your identification (name, date of birth, address) is strictly limited.

The contractor will conduct the survey fieldwork with its own staff, and will thus obtain your personal identifiers (name, date of birth and address) and your answers to the survey questions. The contractor records the collected data in a secure and encrypted electronic form, and after completing the fieldwork electronically forwards it to Banka Slovenije in a secure and encrypted form.

The contractor deletes all data in connection with the survey within one year of completing the fieldwork (after verification of data integrity). The processor contracted by Banka Slovenije is required by contract to use securely protected equipment and to make use of procedures that grant access solely to persons authorised to access the data for implementation purposes.

The personal identifiers (name, date of birth and address) are stored separately at Banka Slovenije from your answers obtained in the survey (pseudonymisation), and only one person has access to them.

The personal identifiers are stored at Banka Slovenije and at the contractor solely for the purposes of verifying the integrity of the data obtained in the survey, and for the purposes of linking the results with the results of other statistical research conducted by the SORS on the basis of the National Statistics Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, Nos. 45/95 and 9/01) and the latest Annual Programme of Statistical Research.

After final controls and the preparation of the data for statistical processing and submission to the SORS, Banka Slovenije deletes all the personal identifiers (by no later than two years after the completion of data collection in the field). This leaves the data anonymised for the purposes of statistical research.

Access to your anonymised answers is granted solely to certain carefully selected people employed at Banka Slovenije, the ECB and the central banks of the Eurosystem, and exclusively for the preparation of statistics and data for research purposes.

The data in anonymised form may also be forwarded to certain recognised researchers, subject to the special permission of Banka Slovenije or the ECB, for the purposes of non-commercial scientific research and education.

The survey results are published solely in aggregate form, in a way that makes it impossible to identify an individual household or household member.
As far as data protection is concerned, Banka Slovenije ensures compliance with the ISO/IEC 27001 information security management standard, and has held a special commendation from the Information Commissioner since 2009 for the proven high level of its personal data protection.

Under the contract with Banka Slovenije, the contractor and all of its regular and contracted staff who will conduct the survey are committed to protecting confidentiality and to putting measures in place to protect your data through the application of ISO/IEC 27001. In addition the contractor is committed to upholding the Code on Market, Opinion and Social Research and Data Analytics issued by the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR). For more on this, see:

• ESOMAR professional ethical standards

Households are selected at random. Should a randomly selected household be replaced with another, this would destroy the representativeness of the collected data; in other words, the breakdown of the various types of household in the sample would be ruined, which means that it would no longer be representative of Slovenia as a whole. There might for example be too few poor households, or too many younger households. Too few poor households in the sample would mean that the average household income obtained from these results would be higher than the true state of affairs in Slovenia.

We are interested in the real picture of the financial assets and wealth of households in Slovenia – this means that our sample should include all households, poorer to wealthy, young and old, with and without children, etc.

• SORS – social demographics: www.stat.si/pxweb/Database/Dem_soc/Dem_soc.asp (in Slovene)

• ECB: www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/ecb_surveys/hfcs/html/index.en.html (in English)

• Banco de España – Survey of Household Finances: www.bde.es/bde/en/areas/estadis/Otras_estadistic/Encuesta_Financi/ (in English)

• Banca d’Italia – I bilanci delle famiglie italiane: www.bancaditalia.it/statistiche/indcamp/bilfait/boll_stat (in Italian)

• Federal Reserve of the USA – Survey of Consumer Finances: www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/oss/oss2/scfindex.html (in English)

Never. Any results released to the public will be in aggregated form, which will not allow for the identification of any individuals.

This means that when processing the data we are never interested in the individual as an individual (personal identifiers will be removed from the database during processing and before submission to the ECB), but rather households in Slovenia and their members in general. Conclusions of any kind, the use of the results for monetary policy and the like will be at the aggregate level, from which it will not be possible to identify any individuals. In no instance will the data be used for any supervisory purposes, such as by the Tax Administration or a similar institution.

The anonymisation method will depend on the answers obtained, as only this can reveal what measures really need to be taken to conceal the identity of the individual. In general we will make use of the following:

• elimination of questions

• rounding of amounts

• conversion of amounts into specific intervals

• setting of upper and lower bounds: if there are any outliers in the answers to a certain question, the upper or lower bound is adjusted (e.g. from EUR xx, up to EUR xx)

• complete deletion of certain survey questionnaires

• swapping: for certain pairs of household or household members who meet particular criteria, their answers to specific questions are swapped

• local suppression: certain rare combinations of answers are marked as deficient

Computer-assisted personal interviewing helps to minimise errors in data entry. It provides for a logical progression through the questions with regard to the respondent’s answers. For example, if the respondent says that they are unemployed, the computer skips questions relating to employment. Using CAPI means that there is no need to transcribe the respondents’ answers again, which not only reduces errors but also saves time and money. The answers are then automatically saved to the database.