This survey, abbreviated as HED, is considered the second phase of the 1972 census. The first phase, enumeration of the entire population, occurred in September 1972. The HED was conducted to obtain detailed demographic and housing information from 300,000 sample households on subjects of housing, household demographics, education, employment, fertility, and disability.

A 2% differentially weighted sample of those households included in the survey (1,453,332 individuals) is available through IPUMS International at the University of Minnesota. Dwellings, vacant units, and group quarters are not identified in the microdata. The districts of Chitral, Upper Dir, Swat, and Malakand in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province are not included in the sample. Refer to the IPUMS website for guidelines on citing database versions.