Official name of the survey:
INKOMSTFÖRDELNINGSUNDERSOKNINGEN 1987(HINK 1987)
(Income Distribution Survey 1987)

Administrative unit responsible for survey:

Funding for the survey is provided for in the Swedish national budget. The data are stored at, and can be obtained from:

Copies of the original codebook and other documentation can also be obtained from the above address.

For additional information to that provided here on various aspects of the survey the following people (all at the above address) can be contacted:

Sample Design:

Jan Eriksson
Phone: 019-1766753

Data collection:

Marianne Andersson
Phone: 019-176573

Income Information

Kjell Jansson
Phone: 019-176540

The primary research group that has analyzed the data is the HINK team at Statistics Sweden at the address above.

The principle users of the data collected in this survey are researchers at the Swedish Statistical Office.

The HINK is conducted every year. The first year in which it was conducted was 1973, and was first made available as microdata in 1975, and then for each successive year, except for 1976, 1977 and 1979.

The main purpose of the HINK survey is to measure income distribution in Sweden.

The process of data collection (i.e. field work) for the first wave of LIS data was begun in January 1988 and completed in February 1988.

Individuals may access the data if given permission to do so by the SCB.

The HINK 1987 microdata have been made available to the Luxembourg Income Study Project under the condition that LIS protects the identity of all individuals in the survey.

A bibliography of the most important publications based on the HINK 1988 data is provided in Appendix M. Also included in the bibliography in Appendix M is a list of the user documentation for the HINK 1987 data.

B POPULATION AND SAMPLE SIZE, SAMPLING METHODS back

The sampling frame for the HINK 1987 consists of a taxation register of all individuals 18 years of age or older.

People living in institutions such as prisons or hospitals are not included in the survey. Military personnel were included in the sampling frame, except these who were also at an educational institution.

Household members who were older than 74 years were not included in the survey.

1. The Sample Design

For the HINK 1987 a four stage stratified sample design was used. This was done in order to control the sample size for the three important groups of farmers, employers and pensioners.

There were different selection probabilities for each group. Farmers and employers had higher selection probabilities than the rest of the population.

There were a total of approximate 6.6 million units in the population from which the sample was selected.

Unoccupied units were not excluded.

The total of 9,421 households were actually surveyed. When weighted this amounts to 8.2 million cases. The sample that was made available for the LIS database was comprised of 9,421 cases, of which LIS was able to make available to its users all 9,421 cases.

Individuals in prison or other institutions were not eligible to be interviewed. No further information is available about these people.

All geographic areas of the country were included in the sample design.

Estimates of sampling variability (standard errors) have been computed for this survey. Available estimates are reported in Section N.

C. MEASURES OF DATA QUALITY back

1. Item and Group Nonresponse Rates

Those households or individuals who fell into the survey frame but which were not interviewed because they could not be located or because they refused to participate in the survey were predominantly single males and younger persons.

The overall non-response rate to the survey was 13.9%, which represents a total of 1325 cases. Jan Eriksson, at the address and phone number listed above, can be contacted for further information about non-response rates.

2. Reporting and Under-Reporting and Income Data Quality

Evaluations of the quality of the income data have not been performed.

3. Data Corrections and Adjustments

No corrections or adjustments have been made to the original survey data.

4. General Assessment of Income Data Quality

Users of this data should be aware of the following problems regarding the quality of the income data collected in this survey:

1. Information on the composition of the household is first collected from the RTB (Register over total population). Although this information is correct from a legal point of view, it shows the situation as of the First of November the year before the income year, and consequently may be incorrect for the year during which the income data was collected.

2. Because the data were obtained from taxation records, people who were living together, or who were not married, are considered to be one household.

3. Single person and other households are overrepresented, whereas two person households are underrepresented.

D. DATA COLLECTION AND ACQUISITION back

1. Method of Data Collection

The data were collected via a telephone interview. If there was no response an interviewer visited the household.

Participation in the survey was voluntary. Providing the respondent gave his permission, data was collected from other sources besides the interview. The SCB assured the respondents that their privacy would be maintained.

2. Structure of the Survey Instrument

In the HINK 87 survey the interviewer must decide who is to be considered a member of the household. Some questions were asked only of the household head, and others to all members of the household.

3. Survey Respondent Rules

Each household member was not required to answer the questions for himself/herself.

Respondents were not asked to consult or use pay records, tax returns, or other documents during the interview. For the HINK 88 most income amounts were collected from sources other than the interview.

E. WEIGHTING PROCEDURES back

In the HINK 87 survey weights have been assigned to each sample case.

Although the survey frame was comprised of individuals, the objective of the survey was to estimate variables for the household. The weights were assigned in order to compensate for sampling errors which occurred because of the different units used in the sampling frame and the analytic unit of the survey.

These weighting procedures helped adjust for missing data or other nonsampling errors in the income data.

The sum of the survey weights is equal to the total number of units in the sampling frame. Estimates derived from the sample are representative of the total population as defined by the sampling frame.

F. DETERMINATION OF SURVEY UNIT MEMBERSHIP back 

The basic units of aggregation which were used in this survey were individuals and households. These were further aggregated into groups based on sex, age, profession and income.

Households were defined as either one adult or two adults (more than 18 years old) with or without children (equal or less than 17 years old). If the household contained children older than 17 years, these children were excluded from the survey.

The overall sampling unit cannot be divided into subgroups in those situations where several families share the same housing unit.

All household members can be identified in this survey.

G. CHILDREN AND SPOUSES back

In this survey children are defined as all persons under the age of 18 who have never been married.

The survey does not provide information to distinguish between children of the unit head (or spouse), and children of some other household member, or of someone living outside the household.

In this survey spouses are defined as people who are cohabiting, as well as people who are married.

H. AVAILABILITY OF BASIC SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION back

In Table .1 are summarized the basic social and demographic information which is available in the HINK 87.

Table .1:
Basic Social and Demographic Information

I. AVAILABILITY OF LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION back

Labor force status information is available for this survey. No groups were excluded at the time of interview through filter questions. Information on the number of hours worked is available. This and other labor market information is summarized in Table .2.

Table .2:
Labor Market Information

J. AVAILABILITY OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION back

It is possible to identify the geographic location of the sampling units in this survey. The geographic location codes are used in this survey:

1. Län (24 areas)

2. Kommun (284 areas)

3. Församling (approximately 2,877 areas)

K. SOURCES AND AMOUNTS OF CASH INCOME back

Sources and amounts of income are recorded for an annual period. The amounts recorded were the actual amounts received. Income sources and amounts are recorded for individuals, not households.

L. TAXES back

Taxation information is available for the HINK 87.

M. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MAIN PUBLICATIONS back

Statistica Centralbyran (SCB); 1988: Inkomstfördelningsundersökningen 1988 (Income Distribution Survey 1988), no. BE 21 SM 9001

Vogel, Andersen, Davidsson, Hall. "Inequality in Sweden." Report No. 58. (English version of report No. 51). Chapter 5, "Economic Resources."