Multinational Time Use Survey (MTUS) coverage

The database currently covers 27 countries, and it is expanding rapidly. The current geographical range primarily encompasses Europe and other high income English-speaking countries. There is also considerable historical depth for some of these countries with extensive diary data series over time (such as the US, UK, Canada, and Australia).

Currently, MTUS predominantly features datasets from affluent countries. However, this is expected to change as efforts intensify to gather datasets globally, especially from regions not yet represented, with current acquisition goals including datasets from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It's worth noting that most Latin American time use surveys currently available are questionnaire-based surveys, which are not the primary focus of the MTUS. In fact, Argentina stands out as the only country in Latin America to have conducted a modern time use survey using diaries (Perú also has a diary-based study, but it is rather old). This data has recently been acquired and is due to be incorporated into the forthcoming MTUS release.

The figure illustrates the MTUS collection's global reach.

Given the scale of the representation there may be minor inaccuracies on a country-to-country basis: a comprehensive list of countries (and respective surveys) for each category is available on the files below. MTUS also features regional samples; however, these are not represented here (they can be found in the second downloadable file). 

The MTUS by country file (Excel) contains the same information that is included in the figure as and excel file, and the MTUS by survey file (Excel) is like the one above; however, each entry represents a survey instead of a country. This inventory is a work in progress and we'd be grateful for users to give us input on the table by emailing ctur@ucl.ac.uk

Incorporating data from low and middle-income countries will enrich the MTUS collection, enhancing its diversity and ensuring it becomes more reflective of global time use. One metric for gauging progress is the potential for analysing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Established by United Nations member states in 2015, the SDGs comprise 17 global objectives addressing a myriad of social, economic, and environmental challenges faced worldwide. Time use diary surveys offer invaluable insights that can aid in tracking and assessing progress towards numerous SDGs, notably those focused on gender equality (SDG 5), decent work (SDG 8), and social well-being. Organisations like the United Nations and the International Conference for Labor Statisticians have recognized and championed time use diary surveys as instrumental in monitoring advancements toward the SDGs. In such a landscape, the presence of a harmonised resource like MTUS is potentially enormously valuable, with the maximization of that potential currently hinging on expanding its geographical coverage.

View the table that presents the current distribution of diaries by country and time

Until now, all the data or surveys within the MTUS collection have been sourced from traditional pen-and-pencil diary surveys, or from computer-assisted interview versions of such surveys (using Computer Assisted Personal or Telephone Interview designs). The upcoming release incorporates time use diary data collected online for the first time (the Centre for Time Use Research UK Time Use Survey 6-Wave Sequence across the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2016-2021). As the digital age advances, it is anticipated that diary data collected online will become a staple in the MTUS collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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All surveys in this table are included in the Harmonised File of the MTUS dataset. Two types of data files are provided: Harmonised Aggregate files (HAFs) and Harmonised Episode file (HEFs).  

HAFs offer aggregate (summary) versions of the time use surveys, where each row in the dataset reflects a record in one 24-hour time diary. The HAFs include demographic and socioeconomic information about respondents and their households alongside the aggregated time use variables. 

Harmonised Episode Files (HEF) covers episode sequence information. In the HEFs, each row represents one episode, reflecting a change of main activity/ secondary activity/ location/ computer or Internet use/ location or mode of transport, or presence of others information.  Users of the HEF are advised to match each episode record to the corresponding demographic and socioeconomic variables contained in the HAF.

Please download the full table by clicking on the below link.

MTUS for download

 

           
             
Country and Abbreviation Survey year Harmonised Aggregate File (HAF) Harmonised Episode File (HEF) Diary days of the harmonised survey New survey addition Data release conditions
Albania (AL) 2009 no no   2020/21  
Algeria (DZ) 2012 no no      
Armenia (AM) 2008 no no   2020  
Austria (AT) 1981 no no     Freely available
1992 yes yes 25,233  
2008 yes yes 8,234  
Australia (AU) 1974 yes yes 1,491   Only for CTUR researcher
1987 yes no 3,181  
1992 yes yes 13,937  
1997 yes no 14,315  
2006 yes yes 13,617  
Basque country 1992 no no   2020 Freely available
1997 no no  
2003 no no  
2008 no no  
2013 no no    
2018 no no   2021
Belgium (BE) 1966 yes yes 2060   Freely available
1998 no no    
2004 no no    
2013 no no    
Bulgaria (BG) 1965 yes yes 2,064   Freely available
1988 no no   2021
2001 yes yes 14,714  
2010 no no    
Benin (BJ) 1998 no no      
Brazil (BR) 2009 no no      
Cambodia (KH) 2004 no no      
Canada (CA) 1971 yes no 2,138   Freely available
1981 Under revision no    
1986 yes no 9,618  
1992 yes no 25,233  
1998 yes no 10,726  
2005 yes yes 19,597  
2010 yes yes 15,390  
2015 no no   2021
China (CN) 2008 no no      
Czech Republic (CZ) 1965 yes yes 1847   Freely available
Germany (DE) 1965- West Germany yes yes 2,501   Only for CTUR researcher
1966- East Germany yes yes 2,114  
1991- West Germany yes no 25,812  
2001 yes no 35,503  
2012 yes yes 32,105  
Denmark (DK) 1964 yes no 4,172   Freely available
1975 no no    
1987 yes no 3,584  
2001 yes no 6,617  
2008 no no    
Estonia (EE) 2000 no no      
2009 no no      
Ethiopia (ET) 2013 no no      
Finland (FI) 1979 yes yes 12,038   Only for CTUR researcher
1987 yes no 15,219  
1999 yes no 10,076  
2009 yes yes 7,455  
France (FR) 1966 yes yes 2,702   Freely available
1974 yes no 4,633  
1985 yes yes 16,047  
2009 yes yes 27,903  
Greece (GR) 2013 no no      
Ghana (GH) 2009 no no      
Hungary (HU) 1965 yes yes 1944   Freely available
1976 no no   2020
1986 no no  
1993 no no  
1999 yes yes 43,141  
2009 yes yes 8,390  
Ireland (IE) 2005 no no   2021  
India (IN) 1998 no no   2021  
2009 no no    
Iraq (IQ) 2007 no no      
Iran (IR) 2008 no no      
Israel (IL) 1991 yes yes 4843   Freely available
Italy (IT) 1980 yes no 2,116   Freely available
1989 yes no 38,110  
2002 yes yes 51,206  
2008 yes yes 40,944  
2013 yes yes 41,229   Only for CTUR Researchers
Japan (JP) 1996 no no      
2001 no no      
2006 no no      
2011 no no      
2016 no no      
Kyrgyzstan (KG) 2010 no no      
Lithunia (LT) 2003 no no      
Latvia (LV) 2003 no no      
Luxembourg 2014 no no      
Madagaskar (MD) 2001 no no      
Macedonia (MK) 2009 no no      
2014 no no      
Mali (ML) 2008 no no      
Mauritius (MA) 2003 no no      
2018 no no      
Mongolia (MN) 2000 no no      
2007 no no      
2011 no no      
2015 no no      
Moldova (MD) 2011 no no      
Morocco (MA) 2011 no no      
1997 no no      
Netherlands (NL) 1975 yes yes 9,163   Freely available
1980 yes yes 19,110  
1985 yes yes 22,841  
1990 yes yes 23,905  
1995 yes yes 22,589  
2000 yes yes 12,691  
2005 yes yes 15,428  
2011 no no    
2016 no no    
Norway (NO) 1971 yes no 6,516   Freely available
1980 yes no 6,066  
1990 yes no 6,129  
2000 yes no 7,675  
2010 no no    
New Zealand (NZ) 1998 no no      
2000 no no      
2009 no no      
Oman (OM) 2007 no no      
Peru (PE) 1966 yes yes 777   Freely available
Pakistan (PK) 2007 no no   2021/2022  
Palestine (PS) 1999 no no      
2012 no no      
Poland (PL) 1965 yes yes 2,683   Only for CTUR Researchers
2003 yes yes 40,292  
2013 no no 76,657 2021
Portugal (PT) 1999 no no      
Qatar (QA) 2012 no no      
Romania (RO) 2001 no no      
2011 no no      
Spain (ES) 2002 yes yes 46,774   Freely available
2009 yes yes 19,295  
Serbia (RS) 1965 yes yes 1966   Freely available
2010 no no   2021  
2015 no no      
Sweden (SE) 1984 no no     Available on request after autorization for the swedish institute of statistics.
1991 yes no 7,063  
2001 yes no 7,747  
2010 no no      
Slovenia (SI) 1965 yes yes 2,004    
2000 yes no 12,273    
South Korea (KR) 1999 yes yes 85,898   Freely available
2004 yes yes 63,268  
2009 yes yes 40,526  
2014 no no    
South Africa (ZA) 2000 no no   2021 Freely available
2010 no no
Turkey (TK) 2006 no no      
2014 no no      
Tanzania (TZ) 2006 no no      
2014 no no      
Thailand (TH) 2001 no no      
2004 no no      
2009 no no      
2015 no no      
United Kingdom (UK) 1961 under revision no 16,284   Freely available
1971 no no    
1974 yes yes 20,252  
1983 yes yes 10,360  
1987 yes yes 11,332  
1995 (light diaries) yes yes 2,005  
2000 yes yes 20,980  
2005 (light diaries) yes yes 4,941  
2014 yes yes 15,271  
United States (US) 1965 yes yes 2,021   Freely available
1966 yes yes 2,017  
1975 yes no 7,075  
1985 yes yes 3,339  
1993 yes yes 9,386  
1995 yes yes 1,199  
1998 no no    
2003 yes yes 20,720  
2004 yes yes 13,973  
2005 yes yes 13,038  
2006 yes yes 12,943  
2007 yes yes 12,248  
2008 yes yes 12,723  
2009 yes yes 13,133  
2010 yes yes 13,260  
2011 yes yes 12,479  
2012 yes yes 12,443  
2013 yes yes 11,385  
2014 yes yes 11,592  
2015 yes yes 10,905  
2016 yes yes 10,493  
2017 yes yes 10,223  
2018 yes yes 9,593  
Total diary days of the harmonised survey 1,510,748