Initiated in 1980, the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) is a research project designed to assist policy makers in their efforts to identify how policies could be designed and improved to positively affect outcomes in health, education, economic activities, housing and utilities, and more.
The LSMS objectives are to:
- Improve the quality of household survey data;
- Increase the capacity of statistical institutes to perform household surveys;
- Improve the ability of statistical institutes to analyze household survey data for policy needs;
- Provide policy makers with data that can be used to understand the determinants of observed social and economic outcomes.