Statistics, Housing

the branch of social statistics that studies housing and the housing conditions of the population. Housing statistics is subdivided into statistics on the size and composition of housing resources, statistics on the use of housing, and statistics on the housing conditions of the population. In the USSR records of residential buildings and their physical condition are kept for planning housing construction, repair, and modernization and improvement. By studying the operation of the housing system and its financial and economic status, optimal methods of managing housing may be achieved, as well as improved forms of administration.

The housing conditions of the population must be studied to determine the need for housing and to regulate its use. Housing is studied in three ways—through quantitative description, qualitative description, and an analysis of the economic conditions of housing use. The quantitative description of housing conditions is expressed in occupancy density (per capita living or total space), the average number of inhabitants per room, and the coefficient of family occupancy. The qualitative description of housing conditions is given in terms of municipal conveniences and sanitary-hygienic conditions, including air ventilation, the temperature and humidity conditions of premises, and natural lighting. The economic conditions of housing use are expressed as a comparison of all expenditures related to housing use with family income. Expenditures for housing in the USSR average less than 4–5 percent of the family budget.

State statistical agencies exercise general management of statistical work in the housing field. The basic organizational principle is the use of operational records (inventory data, standardized bookkeeping). In addition, special studies are conducted from time to time, both one-time surveys encompassing the country’s socialized housing resources and housing censuses covering only personally owned housing in cities, urban worker’s settlements, and resort communities. Sample surveys make it possible to investigate such processes in the housing system as the industrialization of repair work, the mechanization of labor-intensive jobs, and the relationship between wear and use. Such surveys also reveal resources for lowering the cost of housing maintenance and the relationships between housing conditions and demographic trends.