“Time Use Survey” is a large sample survey that five yearly covers the resident population in private households, by interviewing a sample of 20.000 households and 50.000 people (P.A.P.I. technique). The main peculiarity of this survey is that by filling in a daily diary it’s possible to learn about the way in which each respondent allocates 24 hours between the various daily activities, travel, places visited and people with which spends time.
This survey is considered strategic for the knowledge of the organization of the lifetimes of the population in terms of gender, as it allows the study of gender roles in society and in the household. For this reason Italian lawmakers even decided to include an article in the Law n. 53 of 2000, which states: “The National Institute of Statistics (Istat) is to ensure, every five year, an informative flow on the population’s organization of the life times by means of the Time Use Survey, disaggregating
the information by gender and age”.
The survey is also included in The National Statistic Programme, which gathers the statistical investigations needed for the Country.