The basic unit of analysis in HBS was the household. Each person in the study belongs to one and only one household. The word “household” in Albanian is translated as “family economy”
since one household can be represented by one person (with no other family members) or 2 or more families that occupy a housing unit.
The household was defined by: (i) accommodation (living together in the same dwelling unit), (ii) sharing expenditures for joint essentials of living, (iii) pooling income and resources, and (iv) family emotional ties. The 2014 HBS included the following four household categories:
household with one member, household with one family with other persons, household with two or more families, the household with all members that belong to other families.
Members of the household are defined as related to the head of the household and include the following categories: spouse son/daughter, family related, not family related.
Head of the household is considered the person who contributed the most to household financial
Age was reported as the number of years of the household member on their last birthdate.
Household members whose number of years on their last birth date was equal to and below 15 years were defined as children. For children less than one year of age, 0 was written. For study purposes, age of children was categorized as presented in Table 3.2.
Members of the household whose number of years on their last birth date was equal or above 16 years were defined as adults. For purposes of the study, the age of adults was categorized as presented in Table 3.3.
Households having at least one member belonging to most vulnerable age groups were considered households with at least one member equal or less than 5 year old and/or household with at least one member equal or over 65 years old.
Education level for those six and above presents the literacy and levels of schooling completed or underway. As a source variable, education level was reported in the following categories: 1) no formal education, does not read and write; 2) no formal education, reads and writes; 3) attends primary school; 4) primary school; 5) secondary school general; 6) secondary school professional; 7) high school; 8) university or higher. For purposes of this study, education level for those six and above was re-coded as presented in Table 3.2 and 3.3.
Marital status as a source variable was reported under the following categories: 1) single; 2) legally married; 3) living together with agreement; 4) widowed; and 5) divorced and not married again. Marital status of the reference person for this study purposes was re-coded as presented in Table 3.3.
The employment status variable was generated from the HBS “activity” source variable.
Employment was defined as main activity of the reference person during last 12 months. All persons who were not classified as "working" or "unemployed" were considered to be inactive (EUROSTAT, 2003). The employment status variable was generated from the HBS “activity”
source variable. Employment was defined as the main activity of the reference person during last the 12 months. All persons who were not classified as "working" or "unemployed" were considered to be inactive.
Settlement refers to the area of the residency and is categorized as presented in Table 3.2 and 3.3.
HCE quintiles referred to the economic status of the household and its ability to pay. HCE quintiles were estimated based on the annual HCE per adult equivalent (excluding durable goods and rent) as presented in Tables 31 and 3.2.
Health insurance coverage was reported as a source variable on whether the household member had health insurance coverage at the time surveyed.
Medicaments were defined as payments made for medicinal preparations and drugs; any sub-stance or combination of subsub-stances used for the purpose of treating, diagnosing, or preventing diseases, or correcting or modifying physiological functions in human beings.
Pharmaceutical products were defined as payments made for items other than medicaments, e.g.
dietary supplements (including herbal ingredients). A dietary supplement is a product taken by mouth that contains a "dietary ingredient" intended to supplement the diet. Permitted ingredients of dietary supplements include vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, and amino acids.
Medicinal devices and appliances were defined as payments made for personal medical use, such as corrective eyeglasses and contact lenses, hearing aids, dental prosthetics, ortho-prosthetics;
any instrument, equipment, application material or other item intended by the manufacturer to be used by human beings aiming to increase the quality of life.
Outpatient services were defined as consultation fees paid for services delivered at the outpatient facilities funded by municipal authorities and outpatient services of the hospitals or clinics at the Kosovo Hospital University Clinical Services and private health care facilities, including those run by non-governmental organizations or religious institutions.
Dentistry services were defined as consultation fees paid for dentists’ visits in public or private health facilities.
Medical analysis laboratory and radioscopy services were defined as payments made for any medical test or imaging services performed to aid in the diagnosis or detection of disease, performed in public or private institutions.
Health services aboard payments were defined as payments made for the health services obtained in health institutions outside of the territorial borders of Kosovo.
Utilization of health services was defined as utilized/realized access to health care, and utilization of the outpatient services for the last 30 days, and being accommodated for the duration of the treatment, 12 months, at the household member level.