Who/what was surveyed: families and individuals living in private households in the 10 provinces, plus Whitehorse and Yellowknife for the national survey, and in selected metropolitan areas for the urban survey; excluded persons living on Indian reserves, families of official representatives of foreign countries living in Canada, members of religious and other communal colonies, persons living full time in institutions (for example, inmates of penal institutions or chronic care patients living in hospitals and nursing homes)

How the data were collected: personal interviews in January, February and March following the reference year

Geographic detail: Canada (10 provinces), provinces, selected metropolitan areas, and size of area of residence (rural/urban) for the national survey, and selected metropolitan areas only for the urban survey

Demographic detail: age, sex, marital status, family relationship to reference person, mother tongue and place of birth

1. expenditures for detailed categories of consumer goods and services (e.g., food, shelter, communications, child care, furniture, household equipment, clothing, transportation, health care, personal care, recreation, reading materials, education, tobacco and alcohol, games of chance, taxes, insurance payments, pension contributions, and gifts and donations)
2. quantity owned for detailed categories of household appliances, home entertainment equipment and dogs and cats
3. type of cars and recreation vehicles owned by households, as well as distance driven and business use
4. types of stores where detailed categories of household furnishings and equipment, and recreation equipment were purchased
5. dwelling characteristics
6. change in assets
7. mortgages and other loans
8. annual income, detailed for various sources (for example, wages and salaries, net income from self-employment, interest, dividends, pension, social programs)

Frequency: national coverage: 1969, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1992, 1996; urban coverage: 1955, 1957, 1962, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1984, 1990. In 1997, this survey was replaced by the Survey of Household Spending.

Sample size: 14,000 households for the national survey: 7,000 for the urban survey

Data availability: related data available since 1938; conceptually similar since 1964; easily accessible by computer since 1969

Reference period: Previous calendar year

Release dates: eight months after the end of the data collection period

Response rates: on average 75%

What makes the data valuable: the only source of detailed expenditures by household characteristics