Sources and Problems of Data on Income Distribution and Poverty
The primary sources of the data used in the brief description of trend in income inequalities and poverty level in Malaysia in the previous section are the Household Income Survey (HIS), which has been conducted periodically since 1974 with the latest being in 1995. During the period, the HIS was also carried out in 1976, 1980, 1984, 1987, 1989 and 1992. The data for 1970 was derived from the Post Enumeration Survey, 1970 (PES 1970), which was launched after the 1970 Population Census to check the undercoverage and content of the population. The survey design, data collection and processing activities for the surveys were all done by the Department of Statistics (DOS), Malaysia.
The main objective of the HIS is to provide data on income distribution, the extent and magnitude of poverty and accessibility to basic amenities for use in policy formulation. For every survey mentioned above, a two-stage stratified sample design has been adopted. The surveys also covered a representative sample of all private households in both the urban and rural areas in Malaysia. Institutional households (such as students, individuals in hospitals and those residing in military and police barracks), whose members constitutes about 3 per cent of the total population, are excluded. Furthermore, the PES 1970, HIS 1973 and HIS 1976 covered households in Peninsular Malaysia only. The HIS carried out since 1980 covered the whole of Malaysia (that is Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak). Covering a total of about 29,000 households, the HIS 1980 has the smallest sample size. The sample size of HIS carried out between 1984 and 1992 was between 51,000 and 64,000 households, while the sample size for the HIS 1995 was about 40,000 households.
The surveys are comprehensive and identical. The definition of income used in the HIS covered both money and income in kind and also receipts which are of a recurring nature and accrue to the household or to the members of the household regularly at annual or at more frequent intervals. Hence, household incomes captured through these surveys include the following: wages and salaries, including bonuses, commissions, income in kind (free food or free lodging,
