This file contains data from the Paraguayan Encuesta Permanente de Hogares (EPH) spanning from 1998 to 2020. The EPH is an annual household survey conducted by Paraguay’s National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE). While INE makes individual annual datasets available on its website, each year’s data is stored in a separate file. Therefore, conducting a cross-period analysis, such as from 2005 to 2009, requires downloading separate files for each year. To the best of our knowledge, no governmental or private institutions, nor any researchers, have consolidated this data into a unified, publicly accessible dataset.
This dataset addresses that gap by grouping data from the first survey through 2020, including socioeconomic and demographic variables. It is useful for examining trends over time in areas such as income distribution, poverty levels, and middle-class growth. Additionally, the dataset is adaptable, allowing for the inclusion of new variables.
The merging process was challenging due to variable name changes across surveys (e.g., the variable for “Other sources of income” was labeled e01jde in 2010 but e01lde in 2011). New variables are introduced from year to year, and label definitions also vary, adding complexity to the process.
The Stata do-file is available upon request. For queries, comments, or further assistance, please contact us at moises.pedrozo@uni-bonn.de - jcpane@colmena.com.py.