The Central Statistical Office (CSO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, and Empowerment, has officially launched the 2025 Survey of Living Conditions and Household Budget Survey (SLC-HBS). The implementation of the survey is supported by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission Data for Decision Making (DDM) Project, which is funded by the World Bank Group.
The launch ceremony, held at the Financial Administrative Centre, marks the beginning of a nationwide data collection effort that will provide valuable insights to guide national development policies.
The SLC-HBS is a critical national initiative designed to identify and analyze poverty levels, update the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and collect essential data on household spending, health, education, nutrition, housing, and demographic trends. The findings will play a vital role in shaping evidence-based policies and programs aimed at improving the well-being of Saint Lucians.
Highlighting the purpose and value of the survey, Ministry of Finance, Economic Development, and the Youth Economy Permanent Secretary Paul Hilaire stated, “The time is right since evidenced-based information on the fallout of COVID is not readily available. It has already five years since the country experienced its first cases of the COVID-19 pandemic. This data will be a good benchmark to access the impact of the policies government has implemented over the past few years including the revision of the minimum wage and its impact on the average household in Saint Lucia.”
This viewpoint was underscored by the Director of the CSO, Sean Mathurin who communicated, “We are incorporating state-of-the-art data collection tools, including digital surveys and mobile data capture, which will streamline the process and enhance its overall efficiency. A robust sampling framework has been developed to reflect the diverse demographic landscape of Saint Lucia, ensuring that our data represents households from various geographic regions and socio-economic backgrounds.”
Speaking on behalf of the World Bank Group, OECS Data for Decision Making Project Team Lead Anna Luisa Paffhausen stated, “It is important to get this survey right, because the work done in Saint Lucia will provide a valuable blueprint for other countries in the OECS region who would like to implement the survey. Saint Lucia is the first of the three Project countries of the OECS DDM Project to implement the SLCHBS. Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will implement the survey later this year and in 2026.”
The survey will span a 12-month period, from April 2025 to March 2026, during which trained enumerators will visit selected households across Saint Lucia to conduct interviews. Participants are encouraged to provide detailed information on their income, expenditures, and overall living conditions, as well as keep receipts from supermarkets and other stores to facilitate accurate data collection.
The OECS DDM Project was launched in 2022 and will be implemented over a five-year period. The project seeks to produce quality data to inform policy decisions. The Regional Data Governance Council (RDGC), a component of the World Bank-funded project, will play a vital role in ensuring that the OECS and its member states have access to high-quality, timely, and reliable data.
