HES (expenditure) population

The target population for the HES (expendture) is the usually resident population of New Zealand aged 15 years and over living in private dwellings. This means that the population does not include:

• overseas visitors who expect to be resident in New Zealand for less than 12 months
• people living in non-private dwellings (eg hotels, motels, boarding houses, hostels, and homes for the elderly)
• patients in hospitals, or residents of psychiatric and penal institutions
• members of the permanent armed forces in group-living facilities (eg barracks)
• members of the non-New Zealand armed forces
• non-New Zealand diplomats and their families

New Zealand residents living on offshore islands (except for Waiheke Island), and those temporarily overseas, are not surveyed. Children at boarding schools are also not surveyed, but expenditure on behalf of those children is included in the record-keeping of the parent or guardian. The survey population is therefore marginally different from the target population.

For survey purposes, a 'household' comprises a group of people who share a private dwelling and normally spend four or more nights a week in the household. They must share consumption of food or contribute some portion of income towards the provision of essentials for living as a group.