Time Use and the
International Classification of Activities for Time Use
Statistics (ICATUS)
Francesca Grum, Chief
Social and Housing Statistics Section
UNSD
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
United Nations Statistics Division
What are Time Use Statistics?
• Amount of time individuals
“spend” or allocate on
specific activities (typically
over 24 hours)
• They shed light on:
→ What individuals in the
reference population do or
the activities they engage in
→ How much time is spent
doing each of these
activities
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
United Nations Statistics Division
Availability of data
 TUS since 1990:
• 185 Time use surveys were conducted worldwide
→92 (50%) in “countries in developing regions”
→93 (50%) in “developed countries”
• In total 85 distinct countries:
→28 “developed countries” (80% of total conducted a TUS)
→57 “developing countries” (36% of total conducted a TUS)
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
United Nations Statistics Division
Time Use Data for gender statistics
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
United Nations Statistics Division
Growing interest:
Time Use Statistics and their Policy Relevance
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Unpaid Work
All productive activities
Satellite accounts
Volunteering
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Quality of Life
Leisure
Life balance
Time poverty
Well-being
Learning
ICT use
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Gender
Women’s contributions
to economy
Work distribution
Work/Life balance
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Leisure
Access/Consumption
Culture
Media Use
Sports
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Paid Work
Hours of work
Unemployment
Underemployment
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Health
Exposure
Physical activity
Sleep
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Travel
Commuting
Patterns and modes
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
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Environment/Energy
Energy Use
Carbon footprint
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Populations
Children
Persons with disabilities
Low income households
Older people
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Care
Adult Care
Child Care
Pet Care
United Nations Statistics Division
Time Use Surveys
Different options/costs:
•24 hour diary vs stylized
questions
•Self-reported vs. recall interview
 Full diary
– Reliability of data
– Simultaneous activities
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
Particularly relevant
for gender analysis
United Nations Statistics Division
UN Classification of Activities for
Time Use Statistics: ICATUS
• ICATUS is an “international classification”
• “ICATUS is intended to be a standard classification of all
activities that the general population may spend time on
during the 24 hours of a day. Its main purpose is to
provide a set of activity categories that can be utilized in
producing meaningful statistics on Time Use” (United
Nations, 2005)
• “Umbrella classification”: consistent with other major
regional classification such as HETUS or CAUTAL
• In 2012 revision, particular attention to leave room for
national adjustments
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
United Nations Statistics Division
ICATUS
• Main objective: to delineate
the boundaries of economic
and non-economic activities
(paid and unpaid work) and
productive and nonproductive activities
↘ Consistent with the 2008
SNA
↘ Finalization in progress –
impact of new ILO definition
of “work”
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
Major divisions of ICATUS 2012
(work in progress)
1.SNA work and related activities
2.Unpaid domestic services for own final
use within household
3.Unpaid caregiving services to
household members
4.Community services and help to other
households
5.Learning
6.Socializing, community participation
and religious practice
7.Leisure and sports
8.Self-care and maintenance
United Nations Statistics Division
ICATUS
• Mandate: Statistical Commission 1995 (28th session)
• Custodian: United Nations Statistics Division
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Development:
1997: 1st EGM “Draft Classification”
2000: 2nd EGM “Trial version”, issued in UN Guidelines for TUS
2000-2012: Support of the implementation in countries +
compilation of feedback
 2012: 3rd EGM for revision and finalisation
 2013: Presentation at different fora: Statistical Commission, IAEGGS, EGM on classification, International workshops, IATUR
Conference…
 2014: Finalization taking into account new definition of work
adopted at the 19th ICLS-Oct 2013
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
United Nations Statistics Division
International Classification
• Based on the Best Practice Guidelines (Hancock,
2013)
• ICATUS and the 10 principles for international
classifications:
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Custodians,
Conceptual Basis,
Classification Structure,
Classification Type,
Mutual Exclusivity,
Exhaustiveness,
Statistical Balance,
Statistical Feasibility,
Statistical Units
Time-Series Comparability
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
United Nations Statistics Division
Revision of ICATUS
• Primary objective of ICATUS: time spent on on
unpaid work for household satellite accounts
• In line with other international standards especially
SNA, new definition of work
• Remain consistent with previous versions of ICATUS –
around 25 countries adopted/adapted trial ICATUS
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
United Nations Statistics Division
In Conclusion
• Increasing demand for time use statistics from
different stakeholders: measuring unpaid work,
life-work balance, supplement labour statistics,
well-being  Promote the multi-purpose scope!
• Country capacity to measure and value unpaid
work  Training and study tours
• UN Guidelines on measuring Paid and Unpaid
Work  Available online
• ICATUS to be finalized  UN Stat Commission
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
United Nations Statistics Division
UNSD website on Time Use:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcer
ns/tuse/default.aspx
International Seminar on Gender Statistics,
12 – 14 November 2013, Incheon, Republic of Korea
United Nations Statistics Division