European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (SILC)
The Survey on income and living conditions (SILC) is carried out in all European Union countries and is a valuable source for steering policies to combat poverty, inequality and social exclusion.
It enables changes in household and individual incomes and living conditions to be tracked year on year, and allows comparisons to be made at European level.
The questions relate to household composition, housing and its associated costs, and to a variety of subjects such as material situation, work and employment situation, income, well-being, health of each member of the household, and participation in social life.
When does the data collection take place?
The survey on income and living conditions 2025 will run from May 15, 2025 to September 15, 2025.
Conduct of the survey
Who participates?
The SILC survey in Luxembourg targets a sample of resident households and the individuals who make them up.
One person per household is randomly selected from the National Person’s Register and every member of that household participates in the survey. STATEC invites the household by an official invitation letter.
The survey provides a snapshot of the current situation of the household, but also aims to track changes over time. To this end, the selected households will be invited to take part in the survey once a year for 4 consecutive years.
How to participate?
Responses to the SILC survey are collected :
- either via an online questionnaire to be completed by the respondent via MyGuichet.lu.
- or through an interview with an interviewer, either face-to-face or by telephone. STATEC has commissioned the research and polling organization ILRES to carry out the face-to-face and telephone interviews in 2025.
STATEC defines in advance how the household should participate. This information is included in the invitation letter
Participating via MyGuichet
STATEC uses the MyGuichet.lu portal to enable households to complete the questionnaire online. The questionnaire may be opened using a unique access code for the household. This code is communicated in the invitation letter. If one member of the household has activated his private MyGuichet.lu account, the whole household may use the authenticated procedure to complete the questionnaire. Given the complexity of the questionnaire, it is strongly recommended to use this type of procedure. It allows to interrupt the questionnaire, save it and resumed at another time.
Step-by-step videos with an authenticated approach
Households can also complete the questionnaire using the non-authenticated procedure. The time taken to complete the entire questionnaire is limited to TWO consecutive hours. After this time, if the questionnaire has not been transmitted, all data is lost and the whole questionnaire will then have to be filled in again.
Participating with an interviewer
To carry out these interviews, STATEC has commissioned the research and polling organization ILRES.
If the household is invited to participate by face-to-face interview or telephone interview, ILRES will fix an appointment.
In the case of an interview at home, the interviewer will introduce the answers of the household on its tablet. In the case of an interview by telephone, the interviewer will call the household at the time and day agreed upon.
Languages and structure of the questionnaire
The SILC questionnaire is available in Luxembourgish, French, German and English.
It begins with questions of the household composition and the dwelling. The answers should be given by the member of the household who is most familiar with current housing costs. After this, every household member answers to questions relating to his person. An adult member will give the answers for a minor child.
Contact in case of questions or requests for help
Households invited to take part in the Internet survey can contact STATEC :
- for any questions or requests for assistance in the event of problems with the questionnaire;
- for any technical problems when entering data on MyGuichet.lu ;
- to request the assistance of an interviewer to answer the questionnaire by telephone.
The SILC team at STATEC can be contacted :
- by email at silc@statec.etat.lu;
- by telephone on +352 8002 9000 (free number) from 10am to 12pm and from 12.30pm to 2pm from Monday to Friday.
Please quote the reference number of your household indicated on the invitation letter when contacting STATEC.
Legal framework
The content of the survey and the quality requirements to be met are laid down in Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 establishing a common framework for European statistics on persons and households based on individual-level data collected from samples.
In addition to this framework regulation, legal provisions set out in European regulations govern the production of social surveys in general and SILC in particular.
The subjects of the ad hoc modules are the subject of a specific European regulation each year.
Participation in the SILC survey is compulsory for selected households, in accordance with the law of 10 July 2011 on the organisation of the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (STATEC). This legal provision aims to contribute to the quality of the statistics produced, by enabling STATEC to collect reliable data that is sufficiently representative of the resident population.
If you would like to know more about how STATEC processes your personal data or about your data protection rights, please contact STATEC's Data Protection Officer by post: DPO, STATEC, B.P. 10, L-4401 Belvaux, by e-mail: dpo@statec.etat.lu or by phone +352 247 84383.
Survey results
Inequality indicators from the SILC survey are available on the Statistics Portal under the theme "Social Life".
Many other STATEC publications use the results of the EU-SILC survey. Statistical data and other publications on living conditions are available here: Living conditions
Specific questions:
Is my answer representative of the population living in Luxembourg?
Whatever your situation, by responding to the survey you ensure that your personal experience is taken into account in the image that the SILC survey provides of Luxembourg. Without your help, STATEC cannot calculate reliable results. Every year, several thousand people help STATEC by responding to its surveys. Once a household has been selected, it cannot be replaced by another, as this would degrade the representativeness of the sample. Your participation is therefore very important for the success of this survey.
Will I be paid to participate?
No.
How can I make sure that the interviewer contacting me really is working on behalf of STATEC?
STATEC has commissioned the research and polling organization ILRES to carry out part of the data collection. One of the interviewers of ILRES may contact you. If you have any doubts about the identity of an interviewer, do not hesitate to contact STATEC via email (silc@statec.etat.lu) or by phone at the toll-free number +352 8002 9000 (Monday to Friday from 10 am to 12 pm and from 12:30 pm to 2 pm).
May I participate by phone?
To respond to the survey, please refer to the Flyer on this website. If you prefer to respond to the SILC survey via a telephone interview, send us your request to silc@statec.etat.lu, specifying your contact details (reference number mentioned in the invitation letter, name, first name, postal address, telephone number) as well as your availability and the language in which you wish to conduct the interview. You can also reach us by phone at the toll-free number +352 8002 9000 between 10 am and 12 pm or from 12:30 pm to 2 pm from Monday to Friday. In both cases, an ILRES interviewer will contact you to conduct the interview by phone."
Do I need to participate even if a member of my household has answered the survey last year?
Yes, the participation is compulsory for 4 years. Every member of the household aged 16 years or more must participate.
Is my personal information kept safe?
STATEC treats your personal information with care. The information collected by STATEC is only used for statistical and scientific purposes. Individual information related to the surveyed persons will not be disclosed to third persons or administrations under any circumstances. STATEC’s employees and STATEC’s contractors (including ILRES interviewers) are personally responsible. The non- respect of the confidentiality rules will cause both disciplinary and criminal sanctions.
Contact
- Telephone : +352 8002 9000 (Monday to Friday, 10 AM - 12.00 PM and from 12.30 PM - 2 PM – free number)
- Email : silc@statec.etat.lu
Publications
Methodology
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