Summary
The ‘Life in Kyrgyzstan’ Study (LiK Study) is a research-based, open access, multi-topic longitudinal survey of households and individuals in Kyrgyzstan. It tracks the same 3,000 households and 8,000 individuals over time in all seven Kyrgyz regions (oblasts) and the two cities of Bishkek and Osh. 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. 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.
The survey was first conducted in 2010 and it has been repeated four times in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016. The sixth wave of the LiK Study is planned to be conducted in Fall 2019.
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 was funded by DFID as a part of the Growth and Labour Market-Low Income Country (GLM-LIC) Programme. The consortium included 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.
The fifth wave of the LiK Study was conducted in 2016/2017 by a consortium of institutions comprising of Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and University of Central Asia (UCA). 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 in Großbeeren.
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.
Annual Life in Kyrgyzstan Conference
Starting 2015, the LiK Study is complemented by an academic conference that takes place around October each year in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The conferences include invited plenary talks and topical sessions on variety of topics with a significant part of the research conducted using the LiK data. The two-day conference brings together each year national and international experts from academic and research institutions, development agencies, government and the public sector, and non-governmental organizations to exchange knowledge and experiences on recent socio-economic developments in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia, and to promote evidence-based policy making.
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.