Matching consumption classification with food composition tables to facilitate poverty and nutrition analysis using household income and expenditure survey data

Household income and expenditure surveys (HIES) are implemented to rebase the consumer price index (CPI) and gross domestic product (GDP), to estimate poverty rates and, more recently, to conduct nutrition analysis. The latter two uses of HIES data require conversion of household expenditure on food and beverage, using food nutrition tables (FNT), to estimate dietary energy and nutrient consumption.

Consumption expenditure, collected through HIES, is coded using the UN Statistics Division’s Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP), however there is no regionally standardised linkage between COICOP and the Pacific Islands Food Composition Tables (PIFCT), which is required to estimate calorie and nutrient intake using a HIES data set. As such, the multiple players conducting poverty and nutrition analysis in the region often use self-derived conversions, or do not conduct any analysis due to the significant burden of matching COICOP with PIFCT. Additionally, there is no agreed set of edible portion conversion factors for primary produce, which limits the use of HIES data for poverty and nutrition analysis as there’s potential for overestimation of consumption as conversion factors are not always applied due to their limited availability. The result is differing caloric and nutrient consumption estimates by different agencies using the same data set, potentially resulting in conflicting poverty or nutritional distributions; and the underuse of the HIES data set due to the significant work associated with independently matching COICOP and PIFCT.

To address this, SDD is developing a regionally standardised commodity-level COICOP for selected COICOP divisions (all divisions associated with food and beverage consumption) with corresponding caloric and nutrient data (incl. edible portion conversion factors). 

The Pacific Nutrient Database and User Guide is published and available online. 

The study description, user guide and database can be accessed via the Pacific Data Hub – Microdata Library.  

The database is also available via the PDH.stat data explorer: