The objective of measuring time use is to give a description of the time use, and lifestyle of as much of the population as possible. Time use diary is the tool used to register time-use. Time use diary can be an open-system (it works with open time intervals, where the number of registered activities can be different based on the length of respondents’ activities) or a closed-system (it works with closed – fixed 5; 10 or 15 minutes – time intervals) diary. The observation unit of time use is one day's time use of one person, i.e. one man-day. The number of observations corresponds to the number of diaries.
The description shall be comparable with previous national researches, shall provide a differentiated picture reflecting the basic socio-demographic strata, while regarding its main characteristics (list of activities), it shall comply with the Eurostat time-use data recording requirements.
In most of the surveys coordinated by Eurostat, data is collected from all members of the household concerning the same day, using self-completion method. However, during data collection in Hungary, on the day following the designated day, the interviewer fills in the time-use diary in the framework of a so-called yesterday interview about the entire daily time use on the pre-defined days of one person designated to be surveyed per household. In the course of recent the data collection, the activities of the respondents detailed in their own words were recorded independently online or with the help of an interviewer, by phone or in person. During the coding process, the detailed activity descriptions of the respondents in their own words were corresponded to numerical codes.
In Hungary, the study of the time use of the population has been carried out since the beginning of the 1960s with a frequency of approximately ten or fifteen years. In addition to time use survey also provides information on other topics, such as: travel habits, reading habits. The surveys are representative of the given population and the whole annual period, months and days of the week.
The methodology of data collection has changed to some extent over the decades, for example, the age limit of the sample was constantly widening (the studied population was in the years of data collection: non-students aged 18–60 in 1963, total population aged 15–69 in 1976/77, aged 15–79 in 1986/87, aged 15–84 in 1999/2000 and aged 10–84 in 2009/2010 and 2024/2025). In the case of the 2024/2025 survey, the members of the sample were asked to fill in a time use diary every quarter (not a calendar quarter, but a consecutive 13-week period). Half of the sample of approximately nine thousand people per quarter are so-called cross-sectional sample, who were asked to fill in a diary only once, so these respondents could only fill in one diary. The other half of the sample is the so-called panel sample, who were the same in each quarter and could fill in up to four diaries (one in each quarter).
In the year-long data collections before 2009/2010, the respondents could fill in four diaries during the entire year in a partially similar way compared to the 2024/2025 survey. In 2009/2010, only one weekday and one weekend time diary were collected from a person during the entire year (the first recorded time diary was used for the calculations).
The list of the recordable daily activities in the data collections has changed reflecting the changes in social, economic and political life. The number of the coded activities in the data collections was the following: in 1963: 25, in 1976/77: 99, in 1986/87: 480, in 1999/2000: 508, in 2009/2010: 548; in 2024/2025: 335 elementary activities.
The time use diary contains all activities performed during the 24 hours of the day in chronological order. One of the important features of Hungarian time use survey is that it works with open time intervals (open-system diary). This means that respondents can enter the length of their activities as they wish, without having to classify them into fixed 5; 10- or 15-minute time intervals (closed-system diary).
The front page of the diary contains the specific data of the defined day. The data needed to interpret time use are collected in separate questionnaires. Thus, the data collection is supplemented with the data of the interviewed person related to education, employment and health status, as well as with the specific information of the household. The survey therefore consists of a household questionnaire, an individual questionnaire, a time use diary and from the questionnaire after the diary (containing control questions).
One line in the diary correspond to an activity of the day. It includes in addition to the name of the activity the followings:
–starting and ending time of activities;
–for whom the activity was performed;
–whether the activity was carried out with the purpose of generating income;
–the location of the activity and, if used, the type of means of transport;
–the use of a smart device (computer, laptop, smartphone, tablet, smart watch, or any other smart device) during the activity;
–the person(s) present;
–name of parallel (additional) activities.
The Hungarian time use diary differs from the European standards in a way that it also records to whom an activity was performed (for example, whether it was a work done for one's own household or for money).
Daily average time use: The daily average time calculated in minutes for all the examined activities of the entire population (or population group), the total (the 24 hours of the day) of which is 1440 minutes.
Percent of participants in activities in average day: The percentage proportion of those performing the individual activities on an average day, expresses the frequency of performing an activity. It is defined by two factors: how widespread a given activity is within the population and how regularly it is performed by those in question. The average daily frequency of activities performed daily by (nearly) everybody (e.g. sleeping, eating) is approximately 100%. The individual data are independent of each other, and cannot be summed up by column or by line.
Time spent per participant in activities in average day: The average time in minutes used by the (actual) performer of an individual activity in an average day. The data in the cells are independent of each other, and no calculation operations can be performed on them, either in a column or in a row.
Average day: An average day is the mean average of the days represented with the same weight within the data registration time-period.
Activity classification: The activity classification system used in data processing for examining time use structure is the hierarchical structure of the elementary activities and the groupings of different levels formed from these by functions and types: categories, groups and blocks.
People living in private households: People living in private and not in institutional (barrack, correctional institution, disabled / psychiatric / addicted homes) households.
The sampling unit of time-use (person): The sampling unit of time use is the person defined by his/her socio-demographic characteristics (sex, age etc.) as well as by his/her own household characteristics (e.g. size of the household).
The time sample of the time use register: The time use registers represent the time use referring to a defined period of time. The time period is defined by the first and last day fixed for registering. The most recent time use survey is an annual recording, and its duration includes the period between 04.08.2024 and 04.07.2025.