The Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) is conducted by the Dept. of Census and Statistics (DCS) under the National Household Sample Survey Program. The sample survey is an island wide representative sample of equal size capturing seasonal and regional variations of income, expenditure and consumption patterns. For the preliminary survey, field data collection, carried out between July 2009-June 201 covers all districts excluding Mannar, Kilinochchi and Mulattivu districts in the Northern Province due to post liberation resettlements of internally persons.