By Wang Wei & Liu Tao, Market Economy Research Institute, DRC

Research Report, No.225, 2018 (Total 5500) 2018-12-26

Abstract: Establishing a sound service consumption statistics system is important for improving the systems and mechanisms aimed at boosting consumption. From an international perspective, the classification of individual consumption by purpose (COICOP) formulated by the United Nations provides the benchmark for service consumption statistics, which takes the surveys of household income, consumption and expenditure as well as the accounting of personal consumption expenditure as the main hallmarks to reflect service consumption. On the basis of following relevant statistical norms of the United Nations, the practices of different countries carry distinctive features respectively. The United States mainly adopts the expenditures approach to calculate GDP and Japan mainly focuses on surveys of household income, consumption and expenditure, while the United Kingdom takes both moves. In view of this, China needs to choose appropriate service consumption statistical and organizational modes based on the current statistical capacity and basic data, focus on improving the surveys of household income, consumption and expenditure in service consumption statistics and improve the expenditure approaches of calculating GDP to give full play to its leading role in annual service consumption statistics. In addition, China also needs to improve the statistics of service industries and provide important data support for quarterly personal consumption expenditure accounting.

Key words: service consumption statistics, international norms, typical countries, experience and enlightenments