The general aim of the Sierra Leone Integrated Household Survey (SLIHS) was to provide statistics on the living conditions of the people of Sierra Leone and to provide inputs to the government of Sierra Leone's policy making process. The study used consumption as the starting measure for household well-being and followed the standard in poverty analysis for developing countries.
The SLIHS was prepared as joint work by Statistics Sierra Leone (SSL) and the World Bank Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit. SSL had the major responsibility of conducting the survey.
The first chapter presents an overview of poverty, demographics, livelihoods, education, and health in Sierra Leone and measures progress in these indicators compared to the 2003 poverty assessment. The work was conducted as part of the poverty update and it included a series of policy notes with more detailed analysis. The objectives of the SLIHS include:
1. Provide benchmark poverty indicators against which the successes of the agenda for change (PRSP II) could be measured.
2. To measure the incidence of poverty alongside other indicators include providing information on patterns of household's consumption and expenditure at a greater level of disaggregation.
3. To provide data for the compilation of national accounts and computation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
4. In combination with earlier data this will give a data base for national and state planning and for the estimation of consumption as a proportion of household production.
The SLIHS was spread over a 12 month period in order to ensure a continuous recording of household consumption, expenditures and changes occurring thereof in 2011. A total of 9,671 Enumeration areas were selected and about 6,757 households were interviewed all over the country.