Impact of COVID-19 on the Palestinian Households' Socio-Economic Conditions, 2020

            State of Palestine

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics

Impact of COVID-19 on the Palestinian Households' Socio-Economic Conditions, 2020

1. Introduction:

Due to the rapid transformations that the world is witnessing following the outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19) and its aftermath, which affected various aspects of life and have been largely reflected on the social, economic, environmental and health conditions; imposing a new reality and a fundamental change in society, whether at the official or popular levels. Such situations have put us in front of major and complex challenges that require monitoring and follow-up of the conditions, in which the Palestinian households live in light of this pandemic, in order to measure the size of the changes in the social and economic indicators of the Palestinian households.  Accordingly, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) is conducting a special household survey to measure the impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on the social and economic conditions of Palestinian households, and to provide the necessary data to meet the needs of decision and policy makers, whether from the government or the public and private sectors, in addition to civil society and international institutions, as it would contribute to developing programs and interventions that will reduce the effects and consequences of this pandemic.

2. Survey Objectives:

The survey aims at providing a database on the system of socio-economic indicators during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, including the perceptions of individuals about Covid-19 outbreak and the basic social-economic characteristics, to measure the impact of the crisis and coping strategies that individuals/households follow to respond to it.

3. Methodology:

Due to COVID-19 pandemic and inability to conduct face-to-face surveys, PCBS is conducting a rapid household survey on the Impact of COVID-19 on the Palestinian Households' Socio-Economic Conditions by using mobile phones (more details are elaborated in item 4 below), with a sample of 9,926 households, of which 5,898 households in the West Bank and 4,028 households in Gaza Strip, including the urban, rural and camps areas. The survey sample was derived from the general framework of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census that was carried out in 2017, and it is the same sample of the Socio-Economic Conditions Survey for the year 2018 was implemented. Accordingly, the sampling frame of this survey is a list of the households that responded to the 2018 survey.  Data collection has started with a sample of 2,369 households, which will provide a general picture of the reality, and in parallel, work will be continued to cover the rest of the sample to provide more detailed data.

4. Data Collection Mechanism:

As a result of COVID-19 pandemic and based on the global and national public health precautions, PCBS has adopted a new methodology for collecting data from households and individuals as well, where data are collected through Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) mechanism, which is one of the survey’s techniques implemented over the phone. In this technique, the interviewer conducts the interview using mobile phones, where the interview is managed through an application on a computer or a tablet that represents the survey’s questionnaire. The application is designed and programmed to collect data over the phone, as it will speed up the process of data collection and processing. The application also allows the interviewer to automatically move from one question to another where necessary, and it ensures the internal consistency of data and the consistency of answers and their logicality. Additionally, the application is able to let data flow immediately and ensures the sharing of data at all levels within the project cycle management.