THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Office of the Chief Government Statistician (OCGS) Zanzibar are preparing a new comprehensive national wide Household Budget Survey (HBS) to unveil the living standards and rate of poverty in the country.

The survey of which its results will come out in 2026 will be conducted across ten regions with the biggest number of population as per the Census 2022 results.

NBS Statistician General,  told journalists in Dar es Salaam on Saturday that the importance of this Survey is to assess the state of economic growth for individuals and the nation which continues to grow at an annual promising rate of 5.6 percent.

"This Survey is going to highlight the state of poverty where the last time in the 2017/18 survey it was measured at 26.4 percent," said Dr. Chuwa.

She said that until the release of the results of the Survey, the poverty indicators in cities and rural areas will have decreased further. This Survey also aims to determine the current state of food production.

Another goal of the Survey is to determine how the country has succeeded in implementing goal number one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on zero hunger and SDG2 on poverty alleviation come 2030.

Dr. Chuwa said that this Survey has a total of 29 modules that will focus on various sectoral areas. The one-year survey will cover 16,480 households from the Islands and the Mainland.

"In this Survey, which involves the World Bank as a donor, all the information provided by the citizens will remain confidential and will be used for statistical purposes only," said Dr. Chuwa.

She said in that Survey, probability proportion to size is determined by Census 2022 which is the basis of the Sample Survey.

Salum Kassim Ali, Chief Statistician from the OCGS Zanzibar, said that in the early stages of implementation the governments of the United Republic and Zanzibar have brought together the secretaries and directors of programs in different ministries to discuss the preparation of the survey.

"We have discussed the preparation stage that we have already reached so far. The expectation is that at the beginning of January 2025 we will start this Survey for selected households," he said

He explained that next month special training for researchers will be held in the districts of Moshi, Pemba and Unguja which will include 1,368 participants.

He asked the citizens to prepare to cooperate with the researchers when they arrive in their areas to collect research information.