ICT usage in households | National statistical institute

Statistical domain

ICT usage in households

ESS Standard for Quality Reports Structure (ESQRS)

ICT usage in households and by individuals

Contact

Contact organisation

National Statistical Institute

Contact organisation unit

'Labour costs, R&D, innovation and information society statistics'

Contact name

Maia Papazova

Lyubomira Angelova

Contact person function

State expert

Chief expert

Contact mail address

2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria

Contact email address

[email protected]

Contact phone number

+359 2 9857 733

+359 2 9857 169

Contact fax number

Statistical presentation

Data description

The survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals is part of the European Community Statistical Programme and is carried out on an annual basis in all EU member states by a common methodology. The aim of the survey is to collect and disseminate reliable and comparable information on the dissemination and use of ICT in households and by individuals in Bulgaria. The data are collected by a harmonised questionaire of Eurostat which is updated each year to reflect the evolving situation of information and communication technologies.

The survey covers the following subjects:

access to and use of ICT by individuals and/or in households;
use of internet for different purposes by individuals and/or in households;
ICT security;
Digital skills;
e-Commerce;
barriers to use of ICT and the internet;
perceived effects of ICT usage on individuals and/or in households.

Classification system

· National Classification of Occupations and Duties-2005 (NCOD-2005) - until 2010;

· National Classification of Occupations and Duties-2011 (NCOD-2011) - since 1 January 2011;

· International Standard Classification of Education, 1997 version (ISCED '97) - until 2013;

· International Standard Classification of Education, 2011 version (ISCED 2011) - since 2014;

· Classification of territorial units for statistical purposes in Bulgaria (NUTS).

Sector coverage

The survey on ICT usage in households covers regular households which have at least one member aged between 16 and 74 years from different regions in Bulgaria and all their members aged between 16 and 74 years. The sample size for each year is about 5000 households which are randomly selected.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Household is two or more persons, living in one dwelling or part of dwelling, sharing common budget and eating together. Household is also a person, living in one dwelling, room or part of it, who has a separate budget for the cost of meals and expenses to satisfy other needs.

The fixed connection to the internet includes ADSL, SDSL, VDSL, fiber optics technology (FTTP), cable technology, etc.

e-Commerce is the sale or purchase of goods or services conducted over computer networks by methods specifically designed for the purpose of receiving or placing of orders. The payment and the delivery of the goods or services do not have to be conducted online. e-Commerce transactions exclude orders made by manually typed e-mail messages.

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the use of internet-connected devices or systems (often called smart devices) that can also be connected to each other and can be monitored or remotely controlled via the internet.

Digital skills indicator measures people's digital literacy and competence, and it is based on selected activities related to internet and software use performed by individuals in five specific areas: information and data literacy; communication and collaboration; problem solving; digital content creation and safety skills. According to the variety and complexity of activities performed, several levels of skills are computed - no skills, low, basic or above basic digital skills.

Statistical unit

Households and individuals

Statistical population

The survey population of Households consists of all private households having at least one member in the age group 16 to 74 years.

The survey population of Individuals consists of all individuals aged 16 to 74. Individuals living in institutional (collective) households are excluded.

Reference area

Households located in any part of the territory of the country.

Time coverage

Annual time series are available from 2004 onwards. The contents of the model questionnaire is adapted each year to measure the development of the use of ICT. Therefore not all variables have long time series.

Base period

Not applicable.

Statistical processing

Source data

Sample statistical survey on the ICT usage in households and by individuals.

Frequency of data collection

Data are collected on an annual basis.

Data collection

Face-to-face interviews.

Data validation

Data validation is done by logical control of the primary data and comparison with the results of previous studies. Additional checks on comparability and data quality are carried out by Eurostat.

Data compilation

Data processing is done by special statistical software.

Adjustment

Not applicable.

Quality management

Quality assurance

The Methodological Manual provides guidelines and standards for the implementation of the survey.

Quality assessment

The national quality report provides users with basic information on quality at national level.

Relevance

User needs

Main users of the data are Government institutions, research institutions and other users from the country, the European Commission, the International Communication Union and other international organizations.

User satisfaction

Not available.

Completeness

The survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals implements the full set of compulsory variables, according to EU Regulations.

Data completeness - rate

Not applicable.

Accuracy and reliability

Overall accuracy

The sample used for the ICT usage in households and by individuals survey is a two-stage stratified cluster sample which includes about 5000 households. Due to the sampling approach used the estimation of the parameters obtained from the survey could vary from those in the population due to sampling errors, errors due to non-response, errors in registration or processing, etc.

Sampling error

Standard sampling errors are calculated and reported for a selection of indicators and breakdowns by the use of special statistical software.

Sampling errors - indicators

Indicators	Relative share	Standard error	Confidence interval		Variance
Indicators	Relative share	Standard error	95% lower limit, in %	95% upper limit, in %	Variance
Households who have internet access at home
Total	92.1	0.5	91.1	93.1	0.6
Individuals regularly using the internet
Total	81.9	0.7	80.6	83.3	0.8
Men	82.8	0.7	81.3	84.3	0.9
Women	81.1	0.8	79.5	82.7	1.0
16 - 24 years	93.9	1.5	90.8	96.9	1.6
25 - 34 years	95.4	0.8	93.8	96.9	0.8
35 - 44 years	93.8	0.8	92.3	95.3	0.8
45 - 54 years	89.0	1.0	87.1	91.0	1.1
55 - 64 years	77.9	1.3	75.4	80.4	1.7
65 - 74 years	48.6	1.6	45.4	51.8	3.4
Basic education or lower	62.3	2.2	58.1	66.6	3.5
Upper secondary education	81.7	0.8	80.1	83.3	1.0
Tertiary education	94.5	0.7	93.1	95.8	0.7
Individuals having ordered/bought goods or services for private purposes over the internet in the last 12 months
Total	49.8	1.1	47.6	51.9	2.2

Non-sampling error

Coverage error

Not applicable.

Over-coverage - rate

Not applicable.

Common units - proportion

Measurement error

Not applicable.

Non response error

Not applicable.

Unit non-response - rate

The non responce rate of the 2023 survey on ICT usage in households is 22% for the households and 30% for the individuals.

Item non-response - rate

Not applicable.

Processing error

Not applicable.

Imputation - rate

Not applicable.

Model assumption error

Not applicable.

Seasonal adjustment

Not applicable.

Data revision - policy

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Data revision - practice

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Data revision - average size

Timeliness and punctuality

Timeliness

Data are disseminated according to the NSI’s Release Calendar schedule.

Time lag - first results

Not applicable.

Time lag - final results

The final data are available in the fourth quarter of the survey year.

Punctuality

All deliverables are provided in time in accordance with the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute and the deadlines defined in the EU regulations in the ICT domain.

Punctuality - delivery and publication

Not applicable.

Coherence and comparability

Comparability - geographical

Fully comparable with all EU member states.

Asymmetry for mirror flows statistics - coefficient

Not applicable.

Comparability - over time

Partially comparable due to the changes of the general methodology.

Length of comparable time series

There are continuous time series time series for certain variables from 2004 to the present.

Coherence - cross domain

Not applicable.

Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics

Not applicable.

Coherence - National Accounts

Not applicable.

Coherence - internal

Not applicable.

Accessibility and clarity

News release

Regular press release in the NSI's website.

Publications

On-line database

Data on ICT usage in households and by individuals are available to all users of the NSI website under the heading Information Society.

Data tables - consultations

Not applicable.

Micro-data access

In accordance to the Rules on Provision of the Anonymised Individual Data for Scientific and Research purposes.

Other

Information services by order in accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Metadata - consultations

Not applicable.

Documentation on methodology

Methodological manual for statistics on the Information Society, by Eurostat.

Metadata completeness – rate

Quality documentation

Quality reports comprising general methodological information of the survey, on statistical unit, population, sampling design, response and non-response, data processing and sampling errors.

Cost and burden

Not available.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality - policy

· Law on Statistics

· Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.