Background and objctives
The Spanish Survey of Household Finances (EFF,acronym of Encuesta Financiera de las Familias in Spanish) is a flagship statistical survey conducted by the Bank of Spain since 2002. The study provides a comprehensive picture of the economic and financial position of Spanish households and serves as a key evidence source for economic analysis and the development of public policy.
The EFF collects detailed information on household assets, liabilities, income, expenditure, employment status, insurance coverage, pension plans and other relevant aspects of households' economic circumstances. This information makes it possible to build detailed economic and financial profiles of households and to analyse how these evolve over time.
The importance of the EFF lies primarily in the fact that its findings help guide public institutions in the design of economic policies that are better aligned with the needs and real-life circumstances of households across Spain.
Such is the relevance of the survey that, after being conducted every three years until 2020, the EFF has been carried out on a biennial basis since 2022, with the aim of providing more frequent and up-to-date information on the financial situation of Spanish households.
Methodology
The 2024 wave of the EFF is based on a highly complex sample design, developed to ensure not only the representativeness of households as a whole, but also of aggregate wealth within the economy. Given the highly unequal distribution of wealth and the fact that certain assets are concentrated among a very small proportion of the population, the survey incorporates an oversample of high-wealth households. This is essential to enable accurate analysis of the upper end of the wealth distribution.
Another key feature of the EFF is its longitudinal component. Each wave includes both newly recruited households and households that have participated in previous waves, following a system of linked sub-panels that makes it possible to analyse changes in income, wealth and consumption over time without compromising the cross-sectional representativeness of the sample.
To reconcile these two characteristics, namely the oversampling of high-wealth households and the panel component, with the need to maintain cross-sectional representativeness of the population, each wave incorporates a refreshment sample scientifically designed by Spain's National Statistics Institute (INE).
The survey also forms part of the Eurosystem's Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS), ensuring methodological harmonisation and international comparability of results.
The EFF questionnaire is organised into nine broad thematic sections, covering demographic characteristics, real and financial assets, liabilities, insurance and pensions, labour market status, income, consumption and saving.
Data collection is conducted primarily through face-to-face interviews in respondents' homes, carried out by specially trained interviewers using CAPI (Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing). This approach is necessary given the length and sophistication of the questionnaire.
The complexity of the questionnaire represents one of the study's principal challenges. It includes a large number of economic and financial variables, many of which are sensitive in nature and relate to monetary values. As a result, the survey requires not only a high level of respondent cooperation, but also advanced data collection tools and highly specialised interviewers. Interviews frequently exceed one hour in duration and can be considerably longer for households with complex wealth structures.
Taken together, the technical complexity of the questionnaire, the demanding sample design, the substantial reporting burden placed on households and the use of advanced statistical procedures highlight the high level of methodological and operational expertise required to deliver the EFF.
Study delivery
Since 2011, the Spanish Survey of Household Finances (EFF) has been delivered through a collaboration between NORC at the University of Chicago and Verian, under the direction of the Bank of Spain.
NORC provides overall project leadership, drawing on its extensive international experience in household finance surveys, including its role in conducting the United States' equivalent study, the Survey of Consumer Finances, since 1992. Verian, meanwhile, is responsible for data collection across Spain, leading a particularly demanding fieldwork operation due both to the length and complexity of the interviews, which average around 90 minutes, and to the challenge of achieving high response rates in a survey focused on household wealth and income.
Achieving these response rates in a study that places a considerable reporting burden on participants requires a substantial operational infrastructure, together with the development and implementation of dedicated fieldwork protocols designed to minimise non-response and measurement error.
To meet these challenges, Verian has developed and implemented bespoke interviewer recruitment, training and supervision procedures, alongside proprietary fieldwork management, questionnaire review and data quality control tools. These processes have been specifically designed to address the complexity of the study and the demanding quality standards required by the Bank of Spain.
Together, Verian and NORC have delivered the six most recent waves of the EFF (2011, 2014, 2017, 2020, 2022 and 2024), building extensive expertise in the implementation of one of the most complex surveys within Spain's official statistical system.
Following the recent publication of the 2024 results, NORC and Verian have already begun preparations for the 2026 wave, continuing a long-standing partnership founded on methodological rigour, fieldwork excellence and institutional trust.
The main findings from the 2024 Spanish Survey of Household Finances (EFF) are available on the the bankwebside https://www.bde.es/wbe/es/inicio/noticias/encuesta-financiera-de-las-familias-eff-2024.html
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