The Survey of Household Spending (SHS) 2023 is now available for download and can be accessed by researchers with approved projects.

 What’s new? 

• The 2023 Survey of Household Spending (SHS) suite of files is now available in the Research Data Centres (RDCs).

• The SHS 2023 suite of files includes households from Iqaluit. This was not the case for the SHS 2021 suite of files, but it was the case for SHS 2017 and SHS 2019 suites of files.

• In the provinces, as well as in Yellowknife and Whitehorse, the same collection strategy was used for SHS 2023 as for SHS 2021. That is, household spending information was collected mainly using a self-completed electronic questionnaire, also called computer-assisted web interview (CAWI), instead of a questionnaire administered through a personal interview (used for cycles prior to SHS 2021). For Iqaluit, this information was collected using a questionnaire administered through a personal interview. 

• For the SHS 2023 suite of files, the geographic concepts used are those of the 2016 Census and the 2023 SHS survey weights are adjusted according to the population estimates that are derived from 2016 Census data as well as administrative data.

• The SHS 2023 files include two new socio-demographic variables about the reference person: indigenous status (RP_ABST) and visible minority status (RP_VMIN).

• The document “Hierarchy of Expenditure Categories” is available for reference year 2023. This document provides a visual representation of the classification of SHS expenditure variables, as well as information on each expenditure category’s source, recall period, and availability in the different microdata files. As the source or recall period for certain expenditures can change between cycles (ex: recreational services), this document should be consulted to confirm whether changes occurred.