The ZVE is a voluntary survey of households in Germany and is conducted every 10 years by the Federal Statistical Offices. In 2022, a total of around 10,000 households will be surveyed on what their everyday life looks like and what activities they do on a daily basis.
Among other things, the survey provides important insights into how time is divided between gainful employment, household, family and personal activities and how much time people spend on these different areas of life. Ten years ago, for example, men in Lower Saxony worked longer on average than women (8 hours and 20 minutes compared to 6 hours and 56 minutes). However, women were also more involved in running the household and looking after the family (3 hours and 58 minutes compared to 2 hours and 53 minutes). The ZVE 2022 can now be used to determine whether and how the division of labor between partners has changed. But also, for example, how and where children and young people spend their time. Or how families organize childcare.

In the survey, households are asked what activities they do and when they do them during the course of the day. In Lower Saxony, the State Statistical Office is looking for around 1,000 households to take part. Households from all groups of the population are needed in order to create a realistic picture of how private individuals spend their time. It does not matter whether the participants live alone or with other people, whether they are employed or unemployed, whether they travel frequently or spend a lot of time at home, or whether they were born in Germany or abroad. The State Office endeavors to reflect the population as accurately as possible and therefore examines every type of household.

All household members aged ten and over can take part. Each person in the household records their complete daily routines in a diary over three days - from work or school to hobbies, media use, travel times by car, bus, train, bike or on foot, to shopping, childcare and voluntary activities. An additional household questionnaire is only to be completed by one person in the household. This asks for information on the composition of the household and the individual persons, such as age, gender, income and education. This information is required in order to be able to evaluate the data from the diaries not only for the population as a whole, but also differentiated according to different population groups.

Participation in the ZVE is also worthwhile for the participating households. They gain an overview of their personal daily routine and also receive a cash reward of at least 35 euros as a thank you. (Each household receives a lump sum of 15 euros and a further 20 euros for each participating household member aged ten and over).

Further information is available from the State Statistical Office of Lower Saxony (LSN) on the website https://www.statistik.niedersachsen.de/zve (opens in a new tab) or by writing to the e-mail address zvestatistik.niedersachsende or by calling the ZVE hotline on 0511 / 9898 5022.