The Income and Expenditure Survey is conducted every five years in South Africa.The main purpose of the survey is to determine the average expenditure patterns of households in different areas of the country. This survey forms the basis for the determination of the “basket” of consumer goods and services used for the calculation of the Consumer Price Index. The IES is based on the sample for the rotating panel of the twice yearly Labour force Survey (LFS). The IES 2000 was conducted in October 2000.