Introduction

Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) is flagship survey of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and the main mechanism to provide data for Monitoring Development plans at National/Provincial for evidence-based policy making. The survey was designed to provide Social & Economic indicators in the alternate years at provincial and district level. HIES provincial level survey, provides information on Income and Consumption as well as on social indicators at National and Provincial level with urban / rural breakdown and by consumption quintiles.

Developments in HIES

The HIES has been conducted, with some breaks, since 1963. However, in 1990 the HIES questionnaire was revised in order to address the requirements of a new system of national accounts. The four surveys of 1990-91, 1992-93, 1993-94 and 1996-97 were conducted using the revised questionnaire. In 1998-99, the HIES data collection methods and the questionnaire were revised to reflect the integration of HIES with the Pakistan Integrated Household Survey (PIHS). After this the HIES was conducted as an Integrated Survey with PIHS in 1998-99 and 2001-02. Subsequently the survey was renamed in 2004 as Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) Survey and the same module of the HIES remain intact. PSLM, (District Level) Survey and PSLM/ HIES (National/ Provincial level) Survey were conducted on alternating years. Before this Survey, six rounds of HIES were conducted during 2004-05, 2005-06, 2007-08, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2013-14. However, in 2015-16, special survey namely Household Integrated Income & Consumption survey (HIICS) was conducted for rebasing of price indices, for which all items were disaggregated and asked in detail in order to compute separate weight. It is pertinent to mention that survey is designed in such a way that it also provided all data and information regarding HIES.

Objective of Survey:

HIES (Provincial) series is a tool for providing up to date data in respect of various socio-economic indicators with regional & gender disaggregation and also by consumption quintiles for some indicators. The restructured data of HIES is used for the following objectives:

• Planning & Monitoring of Development Plans at National & Provincial level
• Monitoring & Tracking the progress of 31 Sustainable Development Goals
• Estimation of Consumption-Based Poverty from HIES (Provincial)Survey series
• Used by Planners, Policy Makers, Researchers, Statisticians and National / International Organizations.

Incorporated Modules

• Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
• Out of Pocket Health Expenditure
• Information Communication and Technology (ICT)
• Disability and Migration

Main Sectors Covered by HIES (Provincial Level)

• Demographic characteristics
• Education
• Health
• Population Welfare
• Household Characteristics
• Water Sanitation and Hygiene
• Household Income, Consumption & Expenditure
• Household Assets, Household Amenities
• Saving & Liabilities

Nine HIES Provincial Level Survey have been completed 2004-05, 2005-06, 2007-08, 2010-11 & 2011-12, 2013-14, 2015-16 HIICS (Specialized year), 2018-19 and 2024-25.

HIES 2024-25: –

Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES), 2024-25 is the first ever digital and 9^th Round in the Provincial level HIES series and overall 16^th Round of HIES and PSLM Surveys series, initiated in 2004, with Provincial and District Level Survey Rounds on alternate year frequency. Current round of HIES, 2024-25 was carried out through Tablet based Android Enumeration Application during September 2024 to June 2025 covering 32814 households throughout the Pakistan including AJK and GB.

Findings of the Provincial Survey- HIES (2024-25) have been compiled in the form of two reports i.e. (Social Report & Economic Report). HIES (2024-25) Social Report provides detailed indicators on Education, Information & Communication Technology (ICT), Health, Population Welfare, Housing& Water Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) and Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) while Economic Report of HIES, 2024-25 portrays Income & Consumption pattern, besides providing requisite data for the estimation of consumption-based poverty.

Activities for Launching HIES (2024-25):

For launching the field operation of HIES (2024-25), preparatory activities were started in the end of calendar year 2023 that included

1. Reconstitution of Technical Committee on PSLM /HIES;

For the 9^th Round of  Provincial Survey series -HIES (2024-25), after the internal review of the HIES(2024-25) Questionnaire by the technical experts of PBS, Technical Committee on PSLM/HIES was reconstituted in November 2023 to review HIES (2024-25) Questionnaire and results. (Notification of Technical Committee on PSLM/HIES).

Subsequently, questionnaire was finalized and approved by the technical committee for the conduct of HIES (2024-25) with minor changes.

2. Recommendation on HIES (2024-25) Questionnaire

In the light of the recommendations of Technical Committee, following amendments were incorporated.

• Modules on Poverty &Employment, Education, ICT, Health and Housing &WASH were updated.
• Modules of ICT and Employment were amended in the light of Manual for “Measuring ICT Access and Use by Households and Individuals (3rd Edition, 2020)”, by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Handbook on Measuring Digital Platform Employment and Work, Jointly by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Labour Organization (ILO), and European Commission / Eurostat.

3. Development & Testing of Tablet Based Android Application

For HIES (2024–25), a digital data-collection strategy has been adopted, replacing traditional paper-based processes through the development of a tablet-based Android enumeration application equipped with the following modern features:

• Offline and Online Data Collection.
• Auto-Backup, Secure Encryption and Periodic Data Synchronization with central servers
• Block and Assignment Import Functionality
• Geo-tagging and Location Validation
• Embedded Validation Checks.
• Multilingual Interface Support.
• Automatic Form Saving and Resume Options
• Centralized Cloud-Based Storage.
• High-End Encryption and Secure APIs.
• Automated Backup and Recovery Protocols
• Performance Analytics.
• Scalable Architecture.
• Comprehensive Reporting Tools

4. Trainings of Field Staff:

A comprehensive 3-day training plan was organized for the field staff to launch the first ever digital Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) 2024-25. The training sessions included lectures, hands-on exercises, group discussions, and mock activities supplemented by detailed manuals and digital resources. Also, trainers and trainees were thoroughly evaluated to ensure the training’s effectiveness.

     Training Location Data: The training took place in different cities of the country, detail is as under:

5. Data Collection

Team comprising 2 Males & 2 Females and 1 Supervisor in an official vehicle with Driver was deputed for the enumeration of 1 block for collection of Quality Data for HIES (Provincial) 2024-25. Timelines of 2 days for the coverage of Urban Block and 3 days for the coverage of Rural Blocks was fixed.

Data Collection Plan in coordination with the Field Services Teams of PBS and ensuring quality data collection through the Development of Multi-Tiered Monitoring Strategies.

• Tier-I: Monitoring through Built-in Features in the Tablet Based Enumeration Application
• Tier-II: Monitoring by the Officers of PBS
• Tier-III: Monitoring through Interactive Dashboards
• Tier-IV: Online Data Cleaning & Quality Assurance Tools
• Tier-V: Reliability Measures

6. Field Operation and Coverage

Field work of HIES (2024-25) was initiated in September,2024 and concluded in June 2025, by conducting data collection on quarterly basis. Out of 2,500 selected blocks,

• 2,343 blocks (32,785 households) were covered.
• 157 blocks were dropped due to administrative reasons.

Overall response rate: 98%.

Meeting of Technical Committee for Reviewing Results 

Recently, meeting of Technical Committee for Reviewing Results of HIES 2024-25 has been conducted on 28^th November 2025 at N3C, PBS Islamabad. The agenda of meeting was to review and discuss the results of HIES (2024-25), for dissemination. Technical Committee included important stakeholders including representatives from Federal Ministries & Departments i.e., M/o Planning, Development &Special Initiatives(PD&SI); Pakistan Institute of Development Economics(PIDE), M/o National Health Services, Regulation & Coordination(NHSRC); M/ o Climate Change & Environmental Protection; M/o Water Resources; National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS), National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), representatives from Provincial P&D Departments & Provincial Bureaus of Statistics and International Partners – World Bank; UNFPA and UNICEF.

A detailed presentation on key findings regarding the main indicators of HIES (2024–25), Technical Review of HIES Questionnaire, amendments in the modules and final results were shared with the audience, followed by the Questions/ Answers Session.

All members of the Technical Committee appreciated the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, for the successful launching of Household Integrated Economic Survey- HIES (2024-25) and endorsed the results for dissemination.

Final results are now available on the website.
NEW

Methodology

Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) 2018-19

Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) is being conducted under PSLM project since 2004 to 2019. It provides information at National/ Provincial level with urban/ rural breakdown. The survey contains the data collected from 24,809 household based on 1802 urban & rural Primary sampling units (PSUs). The method of team approach has been adopted by PSLM Management Team, Support Services Team, Field Teams and Sample Design Section of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Field Operation:

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) is the primary national agency responsible for gathering, processing, compiling, and distributing official statistics across various sectors, aiding informed decision-making at both national and regional levels.

To ensure efficient and comprehensive data collection, PBS manages a network of 34 Regional and Field Offices strategically positioned throughout Pakistan. These offices are equipped with modern tools and staffed by skilled professionals, enabling the accurate and timely collection of data from diverse geographic and socio-economic landscapes. Through its well-established infrastructure and experienced workforce, PBS upholds the integrity, transparency, and reliability of national statistics, playing a key role in shaping policies, socio-economic planning, and development strategies. The period of field enumeration of PSLM/HIES 2018-19 was from August 2018 to June 2019 using team approach.

Sample Design of HIES Survey 2018-19

Objectives:

The data generated though PSLM/HIES provincial level Survey will be used to produce 24 SDGs indicators and to provide consumption expenditure data for computation of poverty incidence by Ministry of Planning Development & special indicatives.

Universe:

The universe for survey consists of all urban and rural areas of the four provinces of Pakistan including ICT, excluded military restricted areas. It is worth mentioning here that areas of erstwhile FATA now merged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been covered in this survey.

Sampling Frame:

Sampling Frame updated through Census 2017 has been used for sample selection. Each enumeration block is comprised to 200-250 houses on the average with well-defined boundaries and maps. In urban areas each enumeration block is treated as PSU while in rural areas villages are divided into blocks with well-defined boundaries and maps and each separate block within village is considered as PSU.

The numbers of enumeration block in urban and rural areas of the country are:

1. No OF ENUMERATION BLOCKS AS PER SAMPLING FRAME (2017)

Note: The above enumeration blocks are as per 2017 sampling frame used for the survey.

Sample Design:

A stratified two-stage sample design has been adopted for the survey.

Stratification Plan:

The stratification plan for urban and rural areas is as follows.

Urban Domain:

For urban domain, each administrative division for all four provinces has been considered as an independent stratum.

Rural Domain:

For rural domain, each administrative district in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and each administrative division in Balochistan, has been considered as an independent stratum

Selection of Primary Sampling Units (PSUs):

Enumeration blocks in both Urban and rural domains are taken as Primary Sampling Units (PSUs). Sample PSUs from each ultimate stratum/sub-stratum are selected with probability proportional to size (PPS) method of sampling scheme. In both Urban and Rural domains, the number of households in an enumeration block has been taken as measure of size.

Selection of Secondary Sampling Units (SSUs):

The households of sample PSUs have been taken as Secondary Sampling Units (SSUs). 12 and 16 households have been selected from urban and rural domains respectively by using systematic sampling technique.

Sample Size and its Allocation:

Keeping in view the objectives of the survey, the sample size for the four provinces, AJK &Gilgit Baltistan has been fixed at 1995 sample blocks (PSU’s) comprising 28500 households (SSU’s), which is expected to produce reliable results at provincial level with urban and rural break down.

The distribution plan of PSUs and SSUs by province and region is as under:

PROFILE OF THE HIES SAMPLE 2018-19

Dropped Areas:

Out of 1820 PSUs, of all four provinces 18 PSUs (6 urban and 12 rural PSUs) were dropped due to bad law and order situation. Out of these 18 dropped PSUs 15 (4 urban and 11 rural PSUs) belong to Balochistan. 1131 Non- Contacted / Refusal households which are also excluded from the covered households. One areas of each both AJK and GB are dropped. However, results for the AJK and G.B are not given in the report.

Keeping in view the changed ground realities & in the light of SDGs, HIES questionnaires have been amended, in the light of recommendations of the Technical Committee by updating modules on Education, Health, Employment, ICT, Housing &WASH and by amending Consumption Modules of the HIES (2024-25) Questionnaires. It is worth mentioning here that out of 66 SDG indicators reported by PBS, 33 indicators (21 through PSLM District Survey and 31 from Provincial Survey -HIES) having some common indicators in both, are monitored through these Surveys. By analyzing these socio-economic indicators, the government can assess progress towards SDGs, target disparities across provinces and rural urban divides, and fine tune socio-economic reforms aimed at improved equity, access and quality of social services.