Summary
The ‘Life in Kyrgyzstan’ Study is a research-based, open access, multi-topic longitudinal survey of households and individuals in Kyrgyzstan. It tracks the same 3000 households and 8000 individuals over time in all seven Kyrgyz regions (oblasts) and the two cities of Bishkek and Osh. The surveyed households also operate 1500 micro enterprises. The data are representative nationally and at the regional level (East, West, North, South).
The survey interviews all adult household members about household demographics, assets, expenditure, migration, employment, agricultural markets, shocks, social networks, subjective well-being, and many other topics. Some of these topics are addressed in each wave while other topics are only addressed in selected waves.
The survey was first conducted in the fall of 2010 and it has been repeated three times in 2011, 2012 and 2013. All members of the households in 2010 are tracked for each wave and new household members are added to the survey and tracked as well.
History of the LiK Study
The ‘Life in Kyrgyzstan’ Study was established by Professor Tilman Brück as a project funded by the German Volkswagen Foundation from 2010 till 2012. The project included several institutions in Central Asia and Europe with the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) as the consortium leader.
In the period 2013-2015 the ‘Life in Kyrgyzstan’ Study is being funded by DFID as part of the Growth and Labour Market-Low Income Country (GLM-LIC) Programme. The Principal Investigator of the project is Professor Tilman Brück, who is also the Director of ISDC – International Security and Development Center based in Berlin and Team Leader, Development Economics at IGZ near Berlin. The consortium currently includes SIPRI as the lead institution, the University of Central Asia as the main Kyrgyz partner and several research institutions from Asia, Europe and North America.
Data Access
The ‘Life in Kyrgyzstan’ Study data is openly available: it can be used by any interested party for non-for-profit research, policy analysis and teaching purposes. The survey questionnaires and interviewer manuals can be downloaded here or on the project web site.
The 2013 Life in Kyrgyzstan Study data is available for external researchers from IZA’s International Data Service Center (IDSC). The platform contains the page for the data, including data, documentation and publications. The data are made available after registration of the users and signing a data use contract. The LiK data survey link is here.
“Life in Kyrgyzstan” Conference, Bishkek, 17-18 October 2018
The 2018 LiK Conference is the fourth annual ‘Life in Kyrgyzstan’ Conference to take place in Bishkek. It is going to include papers and presentations on research and policy matters about Life in Kyrgyzstan, many of which use LiK data. The conference will include invited plenary talks and topical sessions on labor markets, migration, poverty, health, security, and integration processes in Central Asia. The two-day conference will bring together national and international experts from government and the public sector, development agencies, non-governmental organizations, academia and research institutions, and media to exchange knowledge and experiences on recent socio-economic developments in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia, and to promote evidence-based policy making. The conference will also inform on the results of the 5th wave of the “Life in Kyrgyzstan” Study carried out in 2016 by an international consortium of research institutions with funding from IFPRI, IGZ, FAO and UCA
Contact the Life in Kyrgyzstan Study
You can reach us by email (lifeinkyrgyzstan at the email provider gmail.com). Or follow the LiK Study on Twitter via @LiK_Study.