The objective is the evaluation of population income, consumption and expenditures, provision of necessary information in social protection programmes development, analyse the impact of different programmes in social field of the transition economic effect on socio-economic population situation.

Short history of activity:
The Family Budgets Survey has an old tradition in Romania, such a survey dating back since 1948.
In June 1948, there was a budget survey on 8000 urban families of workers, intellectuals, clerks, free-lancers and craftsmen and other families cathegories from the entire country territory.

Since 1952 have been started the Household Budget Survey in rural area, at 1500 farmers households and from July 1953 had been extended on 3000 households. At the same time, the families employees sample was reduced to 2200 families, taking into consideration the difficulties in daily filling of ''the family book'' as well as the manual processing of data implied a long time to get the final results.

In 1994 the Integrated Household Survey (IHS) was projected, a multipurpose survey that was used during the period 1995-2000.

In 2000, within the RO-97 Phare National Programme, the pilot family budgets survey has developed and since 2001 the Family Budgets Survey has become a permanent survey, being the main instrument to evaluate the income and expenditures of the population.