The Integrated Household Survey (IHS) was carried out to study both social and economic status of households in the Gambia. The survey presented the final results of the income, expenditure, consumption and poverty analysis. The results correspond to the collection period that covered the four quarters in 2010.The Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) had the major responsibility of conducting the survey. The objectives of the IHS are: 1. To provide identification of policy target groups. 2. To derive consumption patterns of households. 3. To provide a mechanism whereby key poverty indicators can easily and regularly be produced in order to describe and monitor the well-being of different categories of households. 4. To provide some key data on how the economic policies affect the availability and quality of social and economic services to households, both as producers and consumers of products. 5. To collect data relating to such topics such as health, education, employment, environment, agriculture and governance. 6. To identify individual items that should be included in the consumption basket. 7. To provide data for poverty analysis and remittances studies. The data collection for the survey lasted for a period of one year and covered 4,800 randomly selected households on a Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) basis across Local Government Areas (LGAs). The IHS is scheduled to be conducted on regular intervals preferably every five years, with light poverty studies at less frequent intervals, in view of current developments taking place in The Gambia.
