Modelling wealth distributions in non-survey years

Since the SFS is not undertaken annually, a different methodology is required to derive distributions of wealth for the DHEA in years for which survey information is not available. Without a direct measure of net worth and its components, the non-survey year distributions must be modelled. The modeling approach used in this release is based on calibration, which is similar to the weight adjustments described in Deriving indicators in survey years. Starting with the influential value adjusted survey weights, the weights are recalibrated to demographic control totals for non-survey years. This recalibration adjusts the weights of the sampled units so that estimates from the survey coincide with these population totals for non-survey years, in essence adjusting the survey weights to reflect demographic shifts.

Once the weights of the SFS samples are adjusted to reflect demographic shifts, the SFS micro-data is scaled to the adjusted national accounts totals and estimates for net worth and its components are obtained, in the same way as described in Deriving indicators in survey years. This process is done once for every survey year giving a time series of estimates for .each SFS sample, which are combined by linearly interpolating between the series.

After combining the two series of estimates obtained by recalibration, small adjustments are made to estimates in survey years in order to avoid introducing turning points when compared with the modelled estimates in adjacent non-survey years. Finally, an adjustment for the territories is applied to the estimates by province and region, in the same way as described in Deriving indicators in survey years.

A more complete description of these steps and a comparison of the calibration approach with the modeling approach used in releases prior to March 2019 are found in the technical methodology and quality report.