Time Use in the Republic of Moldova
The main results of the Time Use Survey

Basic terms
1. The classification of human activities recommended by the Statistical Office of the European Commission (Eurostat) for Time Use Surveys sets forth the following groups of human activities:

• Personal care
• Employment (work)
• Study
• Household and family care
• Voluntary work and meetings
• Social life and entertainment
• Sports and outdoor activities
• Hobbies and computing
• Mass media
• Travel.

2. According to this classification, depending on the main activities carried out by every person on daily basis, the time may be distributed in three basic categories:

• Time for personal care (sleep, eating, other personal care activities);
• Time for work, study, household and family care, voluntary work, and travels;
• Leisure time (social life and entertainment, sports and outdoor activities, hobbies, computing, and mass-media).

3. The survey results are presented for 2 categories of population:

• For all the persons aged 10 years and above, regardless of the fact if they performed or not these activities;
• Only for the persons aged 10 years and above, who were directly involved in certain activities. The participation rates in these activities are presented separately for the respective group.

Summary

The population of the Republic of Moldova aged 10 years and above use almost half of their daily time (47%) for personal care activities (11 hours 18 minutes); 36.5% of one day duration (8 hours 45 minutes) is dedicated to work, study, household and family care, voluntary work, and travels, and 16.5% - is spent for leisure (3 hours 57 minutes). The differences in time use between men and women, for two out of the three categories of activities, are significant (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Time use structure (24 hours), by groups of activities and sex, percentage

The daily activities of the country inhabitants are distributed by sex and according to the length of time spent as follows (Table 1).

Table 1. Average time spent on main activities for persons aged 10 years and above by sex, hours and minutes per day

Women and men use differently the time for the same activities. Men, in average, perform an income-generating work for 45 minutes longer per day than women. Women, at their turn, dedicate 2 hours more per day for household/domestic activities and care.

The analysis of the average time for the activities calculated only for participants (the persons involved in such activities) outlines even more discrepancies between women and men (Table 2).

Table 2. Average time spent on main activities for participants by sex

The absolute majority (96.6%) of women aged 10 years and above are involved in “households and family care activities”, consuming for this purpose about 4 hours 50 minutes (each) on daily basis. The share of men involved in households activities accounts for about 83.0%. At the same time, they dedicate to these activities about 1 hour 40 minutes less than women.

On the other hand, employed men work for about 8 hours 5 minutes that is 37 minutes more than employed women. Besides, the share of employed men is higher than the share of employed women by 6.7 p.p. (40.3% and respectively 33.6%).

Men register a higher level than women in relation to participation in social life / entertainment (68.8%  for men and respectively 64.9% for women) and hobby / computing activities (27.8% for men and 20.7% for women).
As a result of the fact that men practice more activities outside the household, they also register a higher share of travels during the day: 87.1% for men as compared to 80.5% for women.
The participation rates for certain activities, as well as the average time of such practice depend a lot on other factors, such as age, civil status, training level, labour market relation, etc.

The main results will be presented below for each of the 10 types of activities. The average time will be indicated in hours, with one digit after the dot (for instance: 1.5 hours = 1 hour 30 minutes).

Personal care

Sleep is the most important activity within the “personal care” group. In average, an inhabitant of the Republic of Moldova sleeps for 8.9 hours/day, without no differences by sex. At the same time, significant variations are registered depending on the age and week days (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Average time spent for sleeping per person by age groups, week days, hours/day

The second important activity within this group is eating. In average, an inhabitant of the Republic of Moldova allocates about 1.5 hours per day to eating. In majority of cases (1.2 hours/day out of 1.5 hours/day), the meals are served are home.

Important differences (by time spent) are registered depending on the location where the meal is served. Hence, when being a guest in someone’s house – the meal is served for about 2.1 hours; when in specialised locations (restaurants, cafes, etc.) – for about 1.8 hours; in commercial centres, markets, and shops – for about 1.3 hours per day. As well, the meal served in any other different locations (in hotels, parks/forests, street, transportation means, stations, etc.) usually lasts for about 2 hours.

The majority of respondents (74%) stated that they serve the meals together with the family members and other people they know.

Employment (work)

The indicators related to employment cover only the population aged 15 years and above.

A share of 39.6% of the total number of population aged 15 years and above, present in the country, are working. In average, the working day of an employed person lasts for 7.8 hours (8.1 hours for men and 7.5 hours for women).
In case of the employed persons, the duration of the working day differs depending on the status in employment (Figure 3). The longest working day was registered for employees (8.8 hours), and the shortest – for contributing family workers (5.1 hours).

Figure 3. Average time of the working day for employed persons by status in employment and week days, hours/day

In average, the people work at home for about 13.4% of the time daily dedicated to work (meaning from 7.8 hours/day).

Study

One out of ten persons aged 10 years and above (10.5%) is involved in a certain study activity within an educational institution in the country. These persons spend daily about 5.9 hours for classes/lectures or homework.

When analysing by time spent, the longest period dedicated to study is registered among the college students (6.8 hours/day), and the shortest period dedicated study – among the Master Degree students (4.2 hours/day). While from participation point of view, most of persons participating in such activities were registered in gymnasium classes, with an average time spent for 6.3 hours/day.

The learning out of the formal education system (non-formal and informal education) is not wide-spread among Moldovan population. Hence, only 0.6% of the total population aged 10 years and above attend some training courses or study something individually, upon their own initiative. Those who practice such learning activities, usually dedicate in average about 2.3 hours per day for such activity: women study for 2.6 hours/day and men – 1.4 hours/day.

Household and family care

Nine out of ten inhabitants of the country aged 10 years and above dedicate on daily basis about 3.7 hours to activities related to household and family care. Other 10% of inhabitants don’t participate in such activities due to different reasons.

The average time spent on these activities, calculated only for the participants, accounts for 4.1 hours per day.

The survey results reveal a certain division between women’ and men’s roles related to carrying out household and family care activities. Hence, women are more involved (according to the allocated time) in activities related to food preparation, household upkeep, making and care for textiles, shopping and services, and care for children, elderly, and sick family members.

On the other hand, men are more involved in gardening and pet care, household construction and repairs (Table 3).

Table 3. Average time spent on “household and family care” activities and the participation rate for participants by sex

Voluntary work and meetings

The main voluntary work form (8.1%) practiced by the country inhabitants aged 10 years and above is “informal help to other households”. The voluntary work performed through some organisations / institutions is insignificant, according to the survey – only 0.2% of the population (Table 4).

Table 4. Average time spent on “voluntary work and meetings” activities and the participation rate for participants by sex

The most wide-spread form for helping out other households is the “help for domestic activities” (46.5% of the time for voluntary work). It is also important to pay attention to “help in childcare” (27.3% of the time for voluntary work), as well as help in farming (12.3% of the time for voluntary work).

About 6.5% of the population aged 10 years and above are involved in participatory activities: women are more involved than men. The majority of time (96.7%) spent by people in such activities relates to population participation in religious activities.

Social life and entertainment

Two out of three country inhabitants aged 10 years and above (66.7%) are involved in average 1.5 hours per day in social activities and entertainment. The data show a higher participation rate in case of men as compared to women (68.8% and respectively 64.9%), and approximately the some time allocated by men and women (1.6 hours/day and respectively 1.4 hours/day).

Table 5. Average time spent on “social and entertainment” activities and the participation rate for participants by sex

Half of the time allocated by women to social life (48.8%) is spent at home, with the family. The same indicator for men accounts for 45.7%.

The most of the time dedicated to entertainment and culture is spent by the population at cinemas (38.7%) and theatres/concerts (22.8%). The cultural activities are preferred more by women than men.

Participation/attendance of sports events (football matches, auto rallies, etc.) is an activity mostly preferred by men, who dedicate to such activities 16.5% of the time meant for entertainment and culture.

While the libraries seem to be visited more frequently by women, who dedicate to such activity about 2.6% of the time meant for entertainment and culture.

Sports and outdoor activities

Practicing sports and outdoor activities is a form of spending free time for 20.3% of the Moldovan population aged 10 years and above. In average such activities account for 1.8 hours per day.

Practicing physical exercise does not register differences by sex. At the same time, the analysis of the data disaggregated by age groups reveals differences for this indicator in case of young people and adults (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Average time spent on “physical exercise” activities by age groups and week days, hours/day

Most of the time dedicated to physical exercise is used for walking and hiking (72.9%), especially in women’s case (86.2%). After walking, men prefer the ball games (20.2% of the time dedicated to physical exercise), and women prefer gymnastics and fitness (6.8%).

Hobbies and computing

Only 0.8% of the country population aged 10 years and above stated that they are fond of some art type or have a hobby, allocating to such activities about 1.4 hours per day (Table 6).

Table 6. Average time spent on “arts and hobby” activities and the participation rate for participants  by sex

41% of Moldovan population have a computer (PC); 38.7% have access to Internet; 19.1% use computer on daily basis. Men use computers at a higher level than women: 20.7% and 17.8% respectively.

For reasons not related to work, computing is practiced for about 1.9 hours per day (men – 2.1 hours and women – 1.7 hours).

Most of the time dedicated to computing is used for information, especially via Internet (44.2%). Communication by computing accounts for 27.8% of the time dedicated to computing.

Mass-media

Moldovans allocate in average about 2.6 hours per day of their free time for reading, watching TV, listening to radio or recordings, etc.

Only 1 out of 10 persons (11.6%) reads periodicals (magazines, newspapers, etc.), books or other publications, dedicating to such activity in average one hour per day (Table 7).

Table 7. Average time spent on “mass-media” activities and the participation rate for participants by sex

Travels

A share of 83.5% of the total number of the persons aged 10 years and above travel on daily basis for work purposes. Such travels last in average for 1.4 hours per day (Table 8).

Table 8. Average time spent for “travel” activities and the participation rate for participants by sex

When analysing by transport mode, the travelling on foot is on the first place – it accounts for about two thirds (64.0%) of this activity (travel); being followed by travelling by public transport (bus/microbus) (15.9%) and travelling by private transport1 (11.6%). About 4.0% of the time is used for travelling by trolleybus and 0.4% of the time is used in average for travelling by taxi.

The daily travels to/from work and studies, as well as the travels related to household and family care last in average for 1.1 hours per day each. The travels related to changing locality last in average for 2.4 hours per day.

The period of time during which most of the persons (10% of population) travel using different transport modes2 is between 6 and 9 o’clock in the morning, and 4 and 5 o’clock in the afternoon (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Share of population travelling by all types of transportation means, by time intervals during a day (starting with 4 o’clock in the morning), %

Methodology for Time Use Survey (TUS)

TUS differs from other surveys by the fact that it measures the time.

How time is spent can be described by the types of activities carried out and by the length of time spent in them, as well as by the context in which they are done and their scheduling.

The type of activity describes what the person does: sleep, eating, goes shopping, working, etc.

The context of an activity relates to where the activity is carried out, with whom and for what purpose.

The scheduling of an activity describes the location in the day, week or year of the activity: in the morning, in the evening, during the night, in the weekend, etc.

Thus, type, length, context, and scheduling are the dimensions which need to be described by the statistics on time use.

The purpose of the TUS is to study the frequency and the length of time spent on activities: what people do, how much time they spend to carry out an activity, when and with whom they carry out activities.

International recommendation were used to develop the national methodology:

• UN Guide to Producing Statistic son Time Use: Measuring Paid and Unpaid Work, New York, 20053;
• Eurostat, Harmonised European Time Use Surveys, 2008 guideline4.

Surveyed population. The survey covers the territory of the country, except for the territory from the left side of the River Nistru and Bender municipality. The scope of the survey is the population of the country living in private households. The survey did not cover the people living permanently in common dwelling institutions (orphanages, asylums for elderly people, military barracks, penitentiaries, etc.).

Age. The survey covers the members of the selected household who are aged 10 years old and above.

Registration period. The selected people have filled in a diary, noting in detail (with intervals of 10 minutes) all the activities they had carried out during 24 hours, staring with 4 o’clock in the morning till 4 o’clock in the morning of the following day.

Sample. The survey was carried out during 12 calendar months on a nationally representative sample. The structure and dimension of the sample allows disaggregating the data by regions, areas of residence, sex, age groups, working days/weekends.

Sample volume. A number of 15600 households were selected for the survey, of which 10642 accepted to take part in the survey.

The data were collected in between June 01, 2011- May 31, 2012, the interviews were distributed uniformly, ensuring the coverage of all the 365 days during this period of time. Every day during the period of the 12 months, a certain number of households participated in the survey (including the days off and the weekends). Every households was attributed a certain day out of the 365 days (reference day).

The TUS was organized and carried out with the support of the UN Project “Strengthening the National Statistical System”. The NBS has benefited as well from the assistance provided by the Romanian National Statistical Institute and the EU-funded Project “Strengthening Moldova’s Capacity to Manage Labour and Return Migration” implemented by the Swedish Public Employment Service.

Additional information on TUS: old.statistica.md

Notes:

¹ Including the occasion transport
² Travelling on foot is not included
³ United Nations, Guide to Producing Statistic son Time Use: Measuring Paid and Unpaid Work, New York, 2005:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/SeriesF/SeriesF_93E.pdf
⁴ Eurostat, Harmonized European time use surveys, 2008 guidelines: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/product_details/publication?p_product_code=KS-RA-08-014

Contact person:
 Elena Vatcarau,
Head of the Labour Market statistics Division
tel. 0 22 40 30 99