Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

Unit F4 - Income and living conditions; Quality of life

2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG

The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) collects timely and comparable multidimensional microdata on income, poverty, social exclusion and living conditions.

The EU-SILC collection is a key instrument for providing the information required by the European Semester([1]) and the European Pillar of Social Rights. It is also the main source of data for microsimulation purposes and for producing flash estimates of income distribution and poverty rates.

The indicator of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) remains crucial for monitoring European social policies, especially for monitoring the EU 2030 target on poverty and social exclusion. For more information, please consult EU social indicators.

The EU-SILC instrument provides two types of data:

• cross-sectional data pertaining to a given time or a certain time period with variables on income, poverty, social exclusion and other living conditions;
• longitudinal data pertaining to individual-level changes over time, observed periodically with a rotation scheme of four or more years (Annex III(2) to EU Regulation 2019/1700).

EU-SILC collects:

• annual variables;
• three-yearly modules;
• six-yearly modules;
• ad hoc modules addressing new policy needs;
• optional variables.

The variables collected are grouped by topic and detailed topic, and transmitted to Eurostat in four main files (D-File, H-File, R-File and P-file).

The ‘Income and Living Conditions’ domain covers the following topics: persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion, income inequality, income distribution and monetary poverty, living conditions and material deprivation. It also covers EU-SILC ad hoc modules, which are organised into collections of indicators on specific topics.

In 2024, in addition to annual data, EU-SILC collected the three-yearly module on children health, access to healthcare and children specific deprivation, and the six-yearly module on access to services.

Since 2021, the EU quality reports have used the structure of the Single Integrated Metadata Structure (SIMS). EU-SILC European and national metadata files can be found in Eurostat’s EU-SILC database.

([1]); The European Semester is the European Union’s framework for coordinating and monitoring economic and social policies.

The classifications used in EU-SILC are described in the methodological guidelines and in the description of the target variables in CIRCABC.

The classifications used in the EU-SILC results are based on international systems:

• International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011);
• International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08);
• Classification of Economic Activities (NACE Rev.2 -2008);
• Common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 2);
• Geographical code list (SCL Geo Code);
• The recommendations made by the United Nations in the Canberra Group Handbook on household income statistics are also taken into account.

For more details on the classifications used, please see the Eurostat code list or  the Statistics explained glossary on classifications.

The data refer to all private households in the national territory and the individuals living in those private households at the time of data collection.

Statistical concepts and definitions for EU-SILC are specified in EU regulation 2019/1700, EU regulation 2019/2181, and EU regulation 2019/2242. The basic Regulation and its implementing and delegated acts provided for multiple changes to the EU-SILC data collection starting from 2021.

Countries must follow Annex II to EU regulation  2019/2242, where the list of variables is set out, including their modalities, flags, unit and reference period. A more detailed description of the list of variables as well as information on their implementation are available in the methodological guidelines.

The Income and Living Condition section contains more information on the definitions of the main indicators and concepts used (see Living conditions glossary - Statistics Explained).

The information collected in EU-SILC pertains to the following types of statistical units: private households and persons living in those households. Annex II to EU regulation 2019/2242 defines the specific statistical units for each variable, while Annex IV to the same Regulation specifies the content of the quality reports on the organisation of a sample survey in the income and living conditions domain, pursuant to EU regulation 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

The target population is private households and all persons composing these households having their usual residence in the national territory. A private household means a person living alone or a group of persons who live together, providing for themselves the essentials of living.

The data refer to the Member States, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Kosovo^([2]) – national territory and NUTS II level.

EU-SILC may exclude small parts of the national territory amounting to no more than 2% of the national population, and the national territories defined in Article 6 of EU regulation 2019/2242.

Specific cases of coverage areas apply to the following countries:

• France: France excluding Mayotte. Four overseas departments (Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Réunion) have been included since the 2022 data collection.
• Ireland: Ireland including the following offshore islands: Achill, Bull, Cruit, Gorumna, Inishnee, Lettermore, Lettermullan and Valentia.
• Malta: Malta and Gozo.
• Netherlands: Kingdom of the Netherlands excluding overseas territories.
• Cyprus: Government-controlled areas of the Republic of Cyprus.
• Portugal: The whole national territory, including the mainland and the two autonomous regions (Região Autónoma dos Açores and Região Autónoma da Madeira).
• Norway: Norway except Svalbard.

([2])   This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

Annual data, data collection year 2024.

The EU-SILC project was launched in 2003 based on a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ in six Member States (Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Austria) and Norway.

The EU-SILC instrument started in 2004 for the EU-15 (except Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom), Estonia, Norway and Iceland.

A derogation was provided in the cases of Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and nine of the ten new Member States (except Estonia). It permitted them to begin in 2005, on the condition that they supplied comparable data for 2004 for the common EU indicators that were adopted by the Council in the context of the open method of coordination.

Bulgaria and Türkiye started fully implementing the EU-SILC instrument in 2006, while Romania and Switzerland launched EU-SILC in 2007.

North Macedonia started in 2010, Croatia in 2011, Montenegro and Serbia in 2013, Albania in 2017, Kosovo ([3]) in 2018 and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2022.

The United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January 2020. As there is no agreement on transmitting statistical information, the country has ceased to transmit data for EU-SILC. The latest data available for the United Kingdom is EU-SILC 2018.

Annex 1 – EU-SILC implementation and Figure 1 below provide an overview of EU-SILC implementation across countries until 2024.

Figure 1: EU-SILC implementation by country

EU-SILC implementation shows gaps in the data disseminated in Eurobase: Iceland until 2020; Montenegro and North Macedonia until 2022; Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina until 2023; and Kosovo until 2018. More information is available in Eurobase: living conditions section, database.

([3]) This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

Not applicable.

EU regulation 2019/1700 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples (IESS), was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 10 October 2019. The Annex to EU regulation 2019/2180 of 16 December 2019 specifies the detailed arrangements and content for the quality reports pursuant to EU regulation 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council. It is complemented by Annex IV to EU regulation  2019/2242 on detailed arrangements and content of quality reports.

More information on derogations from the IESS Regulation, Commission implementing regulations, Commission delegated regulations and past legislation can be found in the EU SILC Legal Framework.

Confidential microdata are not disclosed by Eurostat. Access to anonymised microdata for scientific purposes may be granted on the basis of EU regulation 557/2013 and EU regulation 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics.

More information can be found on the Eurostat website.

Regulation (EC) 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164) sets out the need to establish common principles and guidelines. It ensures the confidentiality of the data used to produce European statistics and access to those confidential data, while also considering technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

More information on data confidentiality can be found on the Eurostat website.

EU-SILC microdata do not contain any administrative information, such as names or addresses, that would allow direct identification. For more details, see access to microdata. To ensure disclosure control and confidentiality of EU-SILC microdata when disseminating them to researchers via the User Database (UDB), some collected variables are removed or changed. To make the data easier to use, some derived variables are added. For more details, see User Database (UDB).

Publication rules are described in the guidelines for publication as follows:

• estimates should not be published if they are based on fewer than 20 sample observations or if the non-response rate for the item concerned exceeds 50%;
• estimates should be published with a flag if they are based on 20 to 49 sample observations or if non-response rate for the item concerned exceeds 20% and is lower or equal to 50%;
• estimates can be published normally when they are based on 50 or more sample observations and the item non-­response rate for the variable(s) used does not exceed 20%.

The data are flagged when needed. The following flags are used:

•  (b) Break in series (i.e. change of source or change of methodology)
•  (c) Confidential
•  (d) Definition differs, see metadata
•  (e) Estimated
•  (f) Forecast
•  (n) Not significant
•  (p) Provisional
•  (r) Revised
•  (s) Eurostat estimate
•  (u) Low reliability (i.e. due to small sample size)

EU-SILC data are published annually. The main tables are available on the Eurostat website. In addition, statistical articles or working papers on specific topics using SILC data are published (Publications). Indicators based on national SILC data are published as soon as the data are validated for each country. For more information, see the datasets availability table   and release calendar.

Please refer to the release calendar publicly available on Eurostat’s website.

Eurostat disseminates European statistics on its website (see Section 10 – ‘Accessibility and clarity’) in line with the EU legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice. It respects professional independence and acts in an objective, professional and transparent manner, ensuring that all users are treated equally. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users. Additional information about microdata access is available in EU statistics on income and living conditions – microdata.

Countries have provided links to their national sites in the release calendar, when available.

The main results are published and news releases are available on the Eurostat website (news).

The following publications are disseminated in the dedicated EU-SILC section:

1. statistical books;
2. statistics in focus;
3. news releases;
4. statistical working papers;
5. statistics explained.

Further information can be found on the Eurostat website: Publications - Income and living conditions. The main indicators are available in Eurobase: please see the Eurostat website – Income and living conditions.

A detailed description of the indicators available online can be found in the following documents: ‘Working Paper on EU-SILC datasets’ and ‘European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions - Access to microdata’.

Please consult the database on Income and living conditions for more information.

In accordance with EU regulation  557/2013, the Commission has released anonymised SILC microdata in CIRCABC via an encrypted zip file.

Access to the anonymised EU-SILC microdata is provided by means of research contracts. Access is, in principle, restricted to universities, research institutes, national statistical institutes, central banks inside the EU and the European Central Bank. Individuals cannot be granted direct access. For more details, see access to microdata and Publications Office of the European Union (contact email).

The results of the EU-SILC survey are useful for policymakers and users. For this purpose, Eurostat produces several requests in table format. In addition, EU-SILC data are useful for drafting papers as part of different workshops or conferences.

For more information, please consult the Eurostat website.

The quality reports and the list of variables collected and transmitted to Eurostat (cross-sectional and longitudinal) refer to the main document for the relevant operational year in CIRCABC: Methodological guidelines and description of EU-SILC target variables. More information about EU-SILC is provided in EU-SILC methodology; EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) methodology; and glossary: EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC).

A detailed description of the calculation of indicators can be found on the Eurostat website.

Files are transmitted according to the transmission guidelines.

Since 2021, EU-SILC has followed the IESS Regulation: EU regulation 2019/1700 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households as regards derogations granted (EU decision 2020/2050).

The implementation of EU-SILC 2024 follows the EU Regulation on:

• titles of the variables, for the income and living conditions domain, EU regulation 2020/258;
• arrangements and content of the quality reports for the income and living conditions domain, EU regulation 2019/2242;
• 2024 module: EU Regulation 2022/2498 on 6-yearly module on access to services and EU Regulation 2019/2242 on 3-yearly module on children health, access to healthcare (children) and children specific deprivation:.

Furthermore, the following rules are common to all the surveys:

• technical characteristics of the statistical populations and observation units, descriptions of variables and statistical classifications, EU regulation 2019/2181;
• the delegated Regulation on multiannual rolling planning, which sets the data collection periods for all domains from 2021 to 2028, EU regulation 2020/256.
• structure of quality reports related to the datasets to be transmitted by EU Member States to Eurostat, EU regulation 2019/2180.

For more information, please see the Eurostat website on EU-SILC legislation.

Countries provide an annex containing metadata on benefits useful for EUROMOD (attached to national quality report), based on EU-SILC data. The annex with metadata on the income benefits is collected for EUROMOD purposes, and it is shared only with UDB users (not published with the quality report). More information about EUROMOD can be found on the website: EUROMOD – Tax-benefit microsimulation model for the European Union.

Documents describing the variables to be implemented for the operational year, the quality report guidelines and other supportive materials are stored in CIRCABC.

The quality report guidelines, which describe the national quality reports and support countries in filling them in, are updated yearly.

Countries implement EU-SILC by applying the methodological guidelines and the description of the EU-SILC target variables. Using the same methodology and list of variables increases comparability across countries.

The national quality reports follow Annex IV to EU regulation  2019/2242, as well as the SIMS guidelines and annexes template.

The SAS codes to calculate the main tables used in national quality reports are available for countries and stored in CIRCABC.

Please consult the EU and national quality reports for more information.

EU-SILC is based on EU regulation  2019/2242, which sets out the scope, definitions, time reference, characteristics of the data, data required, sampling, sample sizes, transmission of data, publication, access for scientific purposes, financing, reports and studies. In addition, Eurostat and the Member States have developed the technical aspects of the instrument, in particular the Regulation on Quality Reports (EU regulation  2019/2180).

Countries are obliged to report any deviations from the legal provisions to Eurostat. These should be described in their national quality reports. The data are accompanied by quality reports, which analyse the accuracy, coherence and comparability of the data. Output harmonisation is achieved by establishing the format (list and content of target variables and data format) and timetable for data transmission. This is complemented by Eurostat consistency and integrity checks on the microdata, ensuring that a minimum output quality standard is reached.

The relevance of an instrument should be assessed by considering the needs of its users. The list of variables collected, as well as the indicators produced, should meet users’ needs. As for EU-SILC, the main users are the following:

• policymakers (several Directorates-General of the Commission, the Social Protection Committee, in charge of monitoring social protection and social inclusion, and other Commission services);
• statistical users in Eurostat or in Member States, who use it to feed sectorial or transversal publications;
• researchers who have access to microdata;
• media;
• students, etc.

Eurostat carried out a general user satisfaction survey (USS) in 2024 (User satisfaction surveys by year) to obtain a better understanding of users’ needs and satisfaction with the services provided by Eurostat. The survey showed that EU-SILC is highly relevant to users. Most of them reported that both aggregates and microdata are important or essential in their work, irrespective of the reason for using them. The use of the ad hoc modules was less widespread than the use of the annual variables. Users emphasised their strong need for more detailed microdata.

The results of the USS concerning the overall quality of statistics on living conditions and social protection are summarised in the figure below (% of respondents).

Figure 3: Overall quality of statistics on living conditions and social protection, 2024, 2019

Source: User satisfaction survey 2024, 2019

The list of variables to be collected and transmitted to Eurostat is set out in EU regulations (Legislation – Income and living conditions) and described in the methodological guidelines for the operational year.

Countries list and describe any cases where some of the variables are not collected or where they deviate from the methodological guidelines for the operational year. For more information, please see ‘Annex 3 – Income variables – deviations from EU-SILC definitions’, or consult the national quality reports.

The concept of accuracy refers to the precision of estimates computed from a sample rather than from the entire population. Accuracy depends on sample size, sampling design effects and the structure of the population being studied. In addition, sampling errors and non-sampling errors need to be considered. Sampling error means the variability that occurs at random due to using a sample rather than a census, and non-sampling errors are errors that occur in all phases of the data collection and production process.

From 2021

EU regulation 2019/1700 lays down the requirements relating to geographical coverage, detailed sample characteristics, including subsampling, in accordance with Annex III to that Regulation, sampling characteristics, common data gathering periods, common standards for editing and imputation, weighting, estimation and variance estimation.

Furthermore, Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 – Precision requirements, lays down the following:

1. Precision requirements for all data sets are expressed in standard errors and are defined as continuous functions of the actual estimates and of the size of the statistical population in a country or in a NUTS 2 region.
2. The estimated standard error of a particular estimate must not be greater than the following amount:
3. The function shall have the form of

The following values for parameters  shall be used:

When countries obtain negative f(N) values with the parameters expressed above, they shall be exempt from the corresponding requirement.

(*) For the estimated ratio at‐risk‐of‐poverty or social exclusion to population in each NUTS 2 region, those requirements are not compulsory for NUTS 2 regions with less than 0.500 million inhabitants, provided that the corresponding NUTS 1 region complies with this requirement. NUTS 1 regions with fewer than 100 000 inhabitants are exempt from the requirement.

Before 2021

According to EU regulation 1982/2003 on sampling and tracing rules, the cross-sectional and longitudinal (initial sample) data for all components of EU-SILC (whether survey- or register-based) were to be based on a nationally representative probability sample of the population of the country residing in private households, irrespective of language, nationality or legal residence status. The sampling frame and methods of sample selection ensured that every individual and household in the target population was assigned a known and non-zero probability of being selected.

EU regulation 1177/2003 set the minimum effective sample sizes to be achieved. It laid down that the actual sample sizes had to be larger to the extent that the design effect exceeded 1.0 and had to compensate for all kinds of non-response. Furthermore, the sample size referred to the number of valid households, i.e. households for which (and for all members of which) all or nearly all the required information had been obtained. The effective sample size was determined according to the size of the country, and it ensured minimum precision criteria for the key indicator at national level (absolute precision of the at-risk-of-poverty rate of 1%).

EU-SILC is a complex survey involving different sampling designs in different countries. In order to harmonise and make sampling errors comparable among countries, a ‘linearisation’ technique is applied, coupled with the ‘ultimate cluster’ approach, for variance estimation.

 Linearisation is a technique that uses linear approximation to reduce non-linear statistics to a linear form, justified by the asymptotic properties of the estimator. This technique can encompass a wide variety of indicators, including EU-SILC indicators. The ‘ultimate cluster’ approach is simplification consisting of calculating the variance by considering only variation among primary sampling unit totals. This method requires the first-stage sampling fractions to be small, which is nearly always the case. This method allows great flexibility and simplifies the calculation of variances. It can also be generalised to calculate the variance of differences from one year to another.

The main hypothesis on which the calculations are based is that the ‘at-risk-of-poverty’ threshold is fixed. According to the characteristics and availability of data for different countries, different variables are used to specify strata and cluster information.

Countries have been split into three groups:

1) Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Serbia, whose sampling design could be assimilated to a two-stage stratified type, used DB050 (primary strata) for strata specification and DB060 (primary sampling unit) for cluster specification.

2) Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Finland, and Switzerland, whose sampling design could be assimilated to a one-stage stratified type, used DB050 for strata specification and DB030 (household ID) for cluster specification.

3) Malta, Sweden, Iceland and Norway, whose sampling designs could be assimilated to simple random sampling, used DB030 for cluster specification and no strata.

Countries provide the sampling error for incomes and the standard error. Standard errors of key indicators are commonly used as a measure of the reliability of data collected through sample surveys. The EU-SILC survey was designed to estimate the at-risk-of-poverty rate with an absolute precision of approximately one percentage point. The sample sizes were defined taking this accuracy requirement into account. Member States estimate variances for the main indicators using programmed linearisation, jackknife, and bootstrap techniques. For further information, please consult the EU and national quality reports.

Non-sampling errors are classified into four types:

• Coverage errors: errors due to divergences between the target population and the sampling frame.
• Measurement errors: errors that occur at the time of data are collected. There are several sources for these errors, such as the survey instrument, the information system, the interviewer and the mode of collection.
• Processing errors: errors in post-data-collection processes such as data entry, coding, editing and weighting.
• Non-response errors: errors due to an unsuccessful attempt to obtain the desired information from an eligible unit. Two main types of non-response errors are considered:
  • unit non-response refers to an absence of information for the entire unit (households and/or persons) selected for the sample;
  • item non-response refers to a situation where a response has been successfully obtained for a sample unit, but not all the required information has been obtained.

Normally, these errors are addressed at national level. Specific cases are described in the national quality reports.

IESS (EU regulation 2019/1700) establishes the timeliness of data transmissions from the national statistical institutes. In the first years of implementing the IESS Regulation, some countries were granted a new deadline for data submission, as specified in the Annex to EU regulation 2020/2050.

Pursuant to Annex V to the IESS Regulation, for the income and living conditions domain, Member States must submit pre-checked microdata without direct identifiers according to the following deadlines:

(a) variables for the data collection of year N should be transmitted by the end of year N (cross-sectional and longitudinal variables, cross-sectional weights), but in exceptional cases, provisional microdata concerning income may be transmitted by the end of year N and revised data by 28 February of year N+1;

(b) variables related to the observation covering the years of the rotation scheme ending in year N (longitudinal weights) should be transmitted by 31 October of year N+1.

According to the Regulation, the aggregated data will be published on the Eurostat website as soon as possible, within six months of the transmission deadline for annual and infra‐annual data collection, and within 12 months of the transmission deadline for other data collection, except in duly justified cases.

Punctuality refers to the time lag between the target date for data delivery and the actual delivery date. For 2024, most countries were able to meet the deadline. Please consult the national quality reports.

To ensure comparability of data and/or indicators, i.e. to ensure quality of data as defined by Eurostat, EU-SILC has adopted an ex ante output harmonisation strategy. When using output harmonisation, the survey design and methods are flexible, as long as the output requirements are met. Countries have to define suitable national concepts and measurement procedures for implementing the international concept. There are two different strategies, depending on when the survey design is planned:

• Ex ante harmonisation: the surveys are created by countries with the output to be produced in mind;
• Ex post harmonisation: countries can adapt surveys already in place to produce comparable outcomes.

The EU-SILC common framework aims to ensure standardisation at different levels. Conceptual standardisation is achieved by defining and documenting the common concepts/definitions underlying each measure/variable, the scope and the time reference.

Implementation and process standardisation is achieved by editing data to ensure that recommendations are followed. These recommendations concern the collection unit, the sample size to be achieved for each country, the recommended design for implementing EU-SILC (rotational panel), common requirements for sampling, tracing rules for the longitudinal components, and common requirement for imputation and weighting procedures. International classifications aimed at maximising comparability of the information produced are also enforced.

Specific fieldwork aspects are also controlled by the framework in order to limit the use of proxy interviews; limit the use of controlled substitutions; limit the interval between the end of the income reference period and the time of the interview; limit the extent of total fieldwork for one-shot surveys; define precise follow-up rules for individuals and households in the event of refusals; and limit non­contact. Eurostat and Member States work together to develop common guidelines and procedures aimed at maximising comparability.

The EU-SILC survey design remains flexible. EU-SILC flexibility is a key aspect allowing it to be adapted to national specificities in terms of infrastructure and measurement. The most important aspect of the flexibility relates to the data sources to be used (administrative or interview). Eurostat encouraged the use of existing ones, whether they are surveys or registers. A second aspect of the flexibility relates to the survey and sampling design. The only constraint is that, for both the cross-sectional and longitudinal components, all household and personal data have to be linkable at micro level. Countries can use survey vehicles already in place or set up a new survey, possibly drawing on one recommended by Eurostat. Sampling design can draw on social survey expertise at national level. The third aspect of flexibility relates to measuring self-employment income, for which the diversity of sources and practices did not allow common harmonised solutions to be found.

Since 2005, comparability over time has been ensured by a common data source, EU-SILC. Due to the transition between the end of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) and the start of the EU-SILC, there were disruptions in series between 2001 and 2005.

Starting from 2020, and in particular from 2021, many countries were impacted partly or fully by breaks in time series (Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, France, Croatia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway) (Please see Concept 19).

In 2021, new legislation on implementing EU-SILC came into force, revising and improving the survey (see Section 3.4). The new legislation provided for multiple changes to EU-SILC data collection, in particular:

• it enforced the need for the following improvements: improved timeliness, with shorter deadlines for EU-SILC data submission;
• it reformulated precision requirements at national and regional level (NUTS2) for the at-risk-of-poverty-or social-exclusion indicator and the persistent-risk-of-poverty rate;
• additional/changed EU-SILC variables;
• data collection with three frequencies: nucleus, three-year module and six-year module, and the recommendation to extend the longitudinal panel.

Specific variables, indicators or the national SILC were influenced by several factors, including the: implementation of the IESS Regulation, COVID-19, changes to the sample, the interview method, the number of rotations used, etc. For some countries, the impact was not related to COVID-19 or implementing IESS, meaning the break in series occurred before 2020.

For detailed information about significant changes and breaks in time series, as well as other changes considered relevant, please see the overview of breaks in series on the Eurostat website.

A comparison with external sources for all income target variables, and the number of persons who receive income from each ‘income component’ are provided where the Member States concerned consider such external data to be sufficiently reliable.

These cross-domain comparisons are reported in the national quality reports, mainly with the Household Budget Survey (HBS), the Labour Force Survey (LFS), National Accounts and/ or Social Protection Accounts. In addition, some countries compared the data with administrative sources or with other sources.

The sets of weights available in EU-SILC datasets are obtained through calibration techniques, which ensure the basic coherence of the estimates obtained from EU-SILC micro datasets and demographic counts. Additional information can be found in the national quality reports.

Countries report instances of lack of coherence within the EU-SILC data when observed. In 2024, countries did not report any significant inconsistencies in their national quality reports.

The general Eurostat revision policy applies to this domain.

All reported errors (once validated) result in the disseminated data being corrected.

Reported errors in the disseminated data are corrected as soon as the correct data have been validated.

Data may be published even if some countries’ data are missing or flagged as provisional or of low reliability. Such data are replaced with the final validated data once transmitted, and European aggregates are updated accordingly.

Whenever new data are provided and validated, the data already disseminated are updated. There is no specific update schedule for incorporating new data that have been provided ‘spontaneously’.

Previously released EU-SILC data may be revised if adjustments are implemented at national level (for example new census data becoming available) or in other exceptional cases (for example changes in the indicator definitions or in the EU-SILC methodology).

No substantial country-specific revisions are applied at national level (the main driver of data revisions are changes coordinated within the European Statistical System (ESS)).

The EU-SILC team promptly shares information on any data revision with the Income and Living conditions Working Group members and the Social Protection Committee – Indicators Sub-Group.

Countries applying revisions at national level should describe the methodology and analyse the impact. The information is provided in Annex 11 – EU-SILC data revisions to the national quality reports for the relevant operational year.

EU-SILC combines survey and administrative data. Most countries use survey and administrative data combined; others use only survey data (e.g. Czechia, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) (for more information, please see Annex 6 – EU-SILC data sources used).

The EU regulation 2019/1700 requires nationally representative probability samples to be selected. The data are to be based on a nationally representative probability sample of the population residing in private households within the country, irrespective of language, nationality or legal residence status.

All private households and all persons aged 16 and over within the household are eligible. Persons living in collective households or institutions are generally excluded from the target population.

Figure 4: Data sources, 2024

Source: EU-SILC microdata 2024 (extraction March 2025).

Note: Figure 4 includes only the data source of individual questionnaires (P-file) (Please see ‘Annex 6 - EU-SILC data sources used’ for more information).

EU-SILC data are collected annually in each country. In addition, a set of variables collected every three years, every six years or on an ad hoc basis are included in EU-SILC in line with the multiannual rolling planning, EU regulation 2020/256.

More information can be found on the Eurostat website: Legislation – Income and living conditions.

EU-SILC data collection is governed by EU regulation 2019/1700, as well as by EU regulation 2019/2242. Information can be collected either from registers or from interviews. In general, five different ways of collecting data from interviews are allowed: Paper-Assisted Personal Interview (PAPI), Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI), Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI), Computer-Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) and self-administrated questionnaires.

Figure 5: Interview mode, 2024

Source: EU-SILC data 2024 (extraction November 2025)

Most countries use several modes  of data collection, mainly CATI and CAPI, while PAPI, CAWI and self-administered modes are used by fewer countries. In some countries, PAPI and CAPI remained the main data collection modes (e.g. Bulgaria, Czechia, Ireland, Greece, France, Romania, Portugal, Slovakia, Serbia and Türkiye). Starting from 2021, many countries decided to change their mode of data collection from personal interviews to telephone interviews or web-based interviews. In 2024, CATI was the main data collection mode for most countries (Belgium, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia, Finland, and Norway).

In Germany, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden, the main method of data collection was CAWI. It was also widely used in Spain, Austria, Finland and Estonia. Germany partly used a new mode of data collection, namely a paper questionnaire with self-enumeration (PASI).

Annex 2 and Figure 2 summarise the fieldwork period by country, where the figures correspond to the month of the household interview. The fieldwork duration for the 2024 operation varied significantly between countries. It lasted from less than three months (Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Hungary, Romania and Serbia) to around eight months (Cyprus and Greece). All countries started data collection before June and most of them finished the fieldwork period by the end of August. Countries which finished later include Cyprus, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (September), and Greece (November).

A comprehensive validation procedure is applied before finalising the EU-SILC database for each cross-sectional and longitudinal ‘wave’ (year of survey plus any reworking of data for previous years). Source data are initially reviewed at national level. It is subsequently submitted to Eurostat for multilateral validation together with a detailed quality report. Bilateral exchanges are carried out as necessary. At the end of national-level data processing, Eurostat performs the complete checking procedure using the SAS software, then the indicators are calculated. A summary report of the errors identified by the checking tool is submitted to Eurostat. The rules applied by Eurostat are the same as those used by countries when running the checking tool.

Estimates at aggregate level (e.g. EU-27) are calculated as the population-weighted arithmetic average of individual national figures. Aggregates covered include: EU-27 (from 2020), EU-28 (2013-2020), EU-27 (2007-2013), EU-25 (2004-2006), EU-15 (1995-2004), NMS10 (New Member States - 10 countries (2004-2006)) Euro area (EA11-1999, EA12-2001, EA13-2007, EA15-2008, EA16-2009, EA17-2011, EA18-2014, EA19-2015, EA20-2023), Euro area –20 countries (from 2023), Euro area –19 countries (2015-2022) and Euro area – 18 countries (2014). Estimates of the EU aggregated indicators are calculated if EU coverage in terms of the EU population is 70% or larger. Indicators are computed as the population-weighted average of national indicators. For 2024, EU-SILC data are available for EU-27, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia and Türkiye (Eurostat, EU-SILC 2024 data extraction November 2025).

Weights are provided by national statistical institutes as part of the data sets. All necessary imputations are done at national level and the respective flag for the variable imputed is provided.

Missing survey data are imputed using procedures specified in EU regulation 1981/2003 on EU-SILC. This includes income data, household composition data and other items.