Data in Emergencies (DIEM)
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DIEM Household Survey Explorer user guide

Last reviewed: 31 July 2026

This guide explains how to navigate and use the DIEM Household Survey Explorer. It does not provide detailed definitions or methodological guidance for the household survey indicators. Available surveys, themes, indicators, resources, analysis tools, and downloads depend on the selected survey and, where applicable, the user's permissions.

Mandatory map disclaimer

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of FAO concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The final boundary between the Republic of the Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan has not yet been determined. Final status of the Abyei area is not yet determined. The dotted line represents, approximately, the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir agreed upon by India and Pakistan. The final status of Jammu and Kashmir has not yet been agreed upon by the parties.

Licensing and terms of use

Licensing. DIEM aggregated data is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). By using this database, you agree to be bound by the terms of this license and the FAO Statistical Database Terms of Use.

Data source and citation

Source for the maps, charts, tables, and indicator cards described in this guide: DIEM household monitoring system.

How to cite DIEM data

Use the appropriate example below and replace Date with the date on which the data were consulted. The years are retained as provided examples.

1. Get oriented

The application has five main areas:

The More menu contains Team access, Copy link, User guide, Contact DIEM team, and DIEM Hub. User guide opens this page in a new tab at the section matching the current workspace. DIEM Hub opens the DIEM Hub in a new tab, and is also offered on the start page; when the app is opened from inside the Hub it is omitted, because the Hub is already the surrounding page. Use Return to dashboard to restore the originating dashboard URL.

The app supports English and French interface labels. Some questionnaire labels or embedded legacy dashboards may remain in English when an authoritative translation is unavailable.

2. Start exploring

  1. Open the application.
  2. Select a Country on the landing page.
  3. Select an available Round.
  4. Select a thematic area.
  5. Wait for the selected dashboard to load.
  6. Review the survey information, snapshot cards, map, and indicators.

To jump to one of the newest surveys, choose it under Recent surveys at the top of the landing page instead of steps 2 and 3. The five surveys with the latest collection end dates are listed; picking one fills in the Country and Round, and you still select a thematic area.

You can change the country, round, theme, and language later from the header and theme bar.

Follow a Guided findings story

Some surveys may include an analyst-curated Guided findings button on the thematic navigation line. Surveys without an active story show no button.

Open Guided findings, then use Previous and Next, scroll through the narrative cards, or select Play to advance automatically. Selecting Pause, scrolling, interacting with the story, leaving the browser tab, or using a reduced-motion preference stops automatic movement. While playback is active, the slim bar above the controls shows how much of the current chapter's display time has elapsed. Maps and indicators remain live. Guided findings replaces the normal map and indicator panel with a focused story workspace: explanatory text appears beside exactly one narrative, map, or indicator at a time. It uses the same dashboard data and renderers rather than screenshots. Select Close Guided findings to restore the normal dashboard. Long bar charts show the ten leading responses and state how many additional responses were omitted. If an indicator request times out, move to Previous and then Next to retry it.

The URL records the current chapter, so Copy link returns another authorized viewer to the same point. The simulated COD round-99 story is temporarily visible to all reviewers; stories based on real surveys are intended to return to Contributor-only access before publication. The edit control opens the review-stage curation tool, which imports, validates, and exports JSON but does not yet save directly to ArcGIS Online.

Why available choices differ

The app shows only the surveys and features supported by its published catalogue and services. A country or round may therefore offer fewer themes, indicators, resources, or analysis tools than another.

The app can open different dashboard generations:

3. Use a thematic dashboard

The available thematic areas are:

Not every thematic area is available for every survey.

Read the dashboard from top to bottom

  1. Review the survey collection dates, representativeness, administrative coverage context, and any available survey resources.
  2. Read the Survey snapshot or selected-area snapshot.
  3. Review the primary and standard indicators.
  4. Open More indicators to load additional indicators.
  5. Open Survey context for the sample and shared household or respondent context available for that survey.

Indicator cards can contain:

Cards for optional questions appear only when the selected survey asked those questions. An indicator without usable results may be omitted. If one indicator query fails, use its Retry control.

4. Map an indicator

From an indicator card

  1. Find an indicator with See on map.
  2. Select See on map to map its leading available response class.
  3. To map another response, click its bar or pie slice, or its pie legend row. A pin hint above the chart shows when a card offers this.
  4. Check the map title and highlighted card or class to confirm what is mapped.

From the advanced map list

  1. Open Map another indicator above the map.
  2. Choose one of the available indicators.
  3. Check the map title and legend.

The list contains only mapped fields that are available for the selected survey and theme. Responses such as Other, Don't know, Refused, and Not applicable may remain visible in charts but are not offered as map choices.

5. Select and compare an area

The dashboard names administrative levels the way each country does. The header selector, Geography choices, and summaries say, for example, Province (Admin 1) or Territory/city (Admin 2), where Admin 1 and Admin 2 are the technical first and second levels. Countries without a recorded name show Admin 1 or Admin 2. The instructions below use the generic terms.

You can select a representative administrative area in three ways:

After selection:

To clear the selection, choose the selector's first option (for example All provinces), use the selected-area clear control, select the same map area again, or select empty map space.

The administrative level follows the selected survey's representative level. Coverage wording provides context and should not be read as a claim that every administrative unit is represented.

6. Rank areas

  1. Map an indicator.
  2. Select Rank areas.
  3. Review the administrative areas and their mapped values.
  4. Use Highest first or Lowest first to change the order.
  5. Hover over a row to locate the area on the map without changing the active selection.
  6. Select a row to filter the dashboard to that area.

The ranking is available only when the current thematic map has suitable administrative values.

7. Customize a map

  1. Select Customize map.
  2. Choose a classification method:
    • Quantile
    • Equal interval
    • Natural breaks (Jenks)
    • Defined interval
    • Manual interval
  3. Enter the class count, interval size, or manual class boundaries requested by that method.
  4. Select an available colour ramp and optionally Reverse colors.
  5. Choose whether administrative labels show the selected area, no areas, or all areas.
  6. Review the distribution preview.
  7. Select Apply.

Use Cancel to discard the pending changes or Reset style to restore the default map style. The map tools show when the current visualization has been customized.

8. Export a map

Map export is available in thematic views after an indicator has been mapped.

  1. Select Export map.
  2. Review or edit the proposed title.
  3. Select:
    • A4, A3, or Letter paper;
    • portrait or landscape orientation;
    • PDF, PNG, or JPEG format;
    • 96, 150, or 300 DPI.
  4. Choose whether to include the legend, ranking table, and selected-area highlight.
  5. Choose the current dark basemap or Light Gray Canvas (print-friendly).
  6. Select Position map.
  7. Move and zoom the map beneath the export frame. You can also use Fit survey or Fit selected area.
  8. Select Create map.

The browser downloads the generated file. Select Cancel to leave export mode and restore the normal dashboard.

If the current map uses customized styling, the export settings identify it as customized and offer a reset. When a ranking is too long for the export layout, the settings explain how many highest-ranked areas will be included.

9. Use focus areas

The Full survey / Focus areas control appears only for eligible native V2 surveys whose focus-area services are ready.

  1. Select Focus areas.
  2. Read the updated coverage text.
  3. Use the Admin 2 selector (labeled with the country's second-level name) or the map to select one of the designated focus areas.
  4. Review the focus-area snapshot, indicators, and maps.
  5. Select Full survey to return to the normal survey view.

Focus results cover only designated higher-sample Admin 2 areas. They are not a nationally representative result and do not imply complete national Admin 2 coverage.

Focus mode is not available in Data Lab, Trends, Potential anomalies, or data downloads. If a required focus service fails, the app returns to Full survey.

The equivalent V3 focus-area interface is not currently enabled and is therefore not part of this guide's available workflow.

10. Use a legacy dashboard

Older surveys, and surveys that cannot safely load through the native V2 workspace, use an embedded ArcGIS Dashboard.

  1. Select the country, round, and available theme as usual.
  2. Use the controls inside the embedded dashboard.
  3. Review the survey methodology and survey resources shown outside the embedded frame.
  4. Select Open dashboard in a new tab if more space is needed.

The native map, ranking, indicator-card, and map-export instructions in this guide do not apply inside a legacy dashboard. Legacy dashboards retain the language in which they were authored.

Availability: authorized users and countries with sufficient published trend history.

  1. Sign in through Team access if required.
  2. Open Analysis tools and select Trends.
  3. Select the thematic area and indicator.
  4. Select Country, Admin 1, or Admin 2 under Geography. The administrative choices carry the country's names, for example Province (Admin 1).
  5. For an administrative view, select the required area.
  6. Review the round-coverage strip, questionnaire-version labels, chart, table, and coverage messages.
  7. Open Chart options for the available time-axis, rolling-average, missing-round, seasonal-comparison, and benchmark choices.
  8. Open Map options to map a round-specific estimate or the change from the previous round.
  9. Select a chart point and use Map this survey round when you want the map to show that round.
  10. Use Download evidence CSV, Download chart PNG, or Download chart PDF.

Gaps represent unavailable observations and are not zero values. Cross-version series include only indicators with an approved continuity definition. Read the in-app About Trends explanation and coverage messages before interpreting a comparison.

12. Use Potential anomalies

Availability: authorized users and eligible published survey history.

  1. Open Analysis tools and select Potential anomalies.
  2. Select the round, geography, thematic area, indicator, and optional administrative-area filters.
  3. Review or adjust the thresholds for percentage-share and continuous indicators.
  4. Choose whether either comparison or both comparisons must meet the threshold.
  5. Review the screening summary, evidence table, map, and coverage messages.
  6. Filter the evidence or select a row to coordinate it with the map.
  7. Open a result in Trends when that action is available.
  8. Download the evidence CSV when required.

Potential anomalies are prioritized signals for review. They are not automatic data errors or proof of a real-world crisis. A signal may reflect real change, sampling or coverage differences, boundary changes, questionnaire changes, or data-quality issues.

13. Use Data Lab

Availability: authorized Contributors and supported native surveys.

Open Analysis tools and select Data Lab. Available operations depend on the selected survey.

Compare groups

  1. Select the outcome indicator.
  2. Select the breakdown variable.
  3. Choose the available percentage normalization, when applicable.
  4. Select Update analysis.
  5. Review the descriptive summary, chart, table, group counts, and disclosure messages.
  6. Select Show full definitions when longer response definitions are available.
  7. Use Download result CSV or the available chart export.

Bivariate map

  1. Select the two administrative indicators.
  2. Select Update map.
  3. Use the relationship map and legend to examine geographic co-occurrence.
  4. Download the available mapped-area evidence.

A bivariate map shows where two administrative estimates occur together. It does not establish correlation or causation.

Admin scatterplot

  1. Select the horizontal- and vertical-axis indicators.
  2. Optionally show the equal-values line when it is meaningful for the selected measures.
  3. Select Update scatterplot.
  4. Review the plotted administrative areas, reported correlation, sample-size information, and cautions.
  5. Select a point to use the normal administrative-area selection.
  6. Use Download plotted areas CSV or the available chart export.

The reported relationship is ecological across administrative areas. It is not a household-level relationship and does not establish causation.

Disclosure and availability

The Data Lab excludes or withholds results according to the disclosure messages shown in the workspace. It does not silently replace withheld or unavailable values with zero. A protected-data service failure is reported within Data Lab without breaking the selected survey.

14. Sign in and open authorized resources

  1. Open More and select Team access, or use Team access on the landing page.
  2. Complete the ArcGIS sign-in with the authorized DIEM Community account.
  3. Review the welcome dialog shown after an interactive sign-in.
  4. Open the available functionality under Analysis tools.
  5. Open permitted destinations under Data access.
  6. Select Sign out when finished, especially on a shared device.

Access is cumulative and depends on approved group membership:

The exact combination depends on the user's memberships and selected survey. Every data destination carries the active country and exact round to the DIEM Hub. V1 surveys do not expose the native Data access group.

If expected access is missing, use Contact DIEM team from the More menu.

15. Share a view

  1. Set the survey, theme, mapped indicator, administrative area, language, or analysis state you want to share.
  2. Open More.
  3. Select Copy link.
  4. Share the copied URL.

When the app is embedded in the DIEM Hub, Copy link produces the corresponding Hub monitoring URL. In the standalone app, it produces the standalone dashboard URL.

The link restores supported visualization state. It does not transfer sign-in or group membership; recipients still need their own authorization for protected tools and destinations.

16. Survey resources

Depending on the selected survey, the survey panel may provide links to:

Only valid resources configured for that survey are shown. Selecting a resource opens its public DIEM Hub dataset page.

17. Data access

Aggregated data are available to any DIEM account. A free account can be created here. After creating the account, allow a few minutes for it to inherit the required access privileges.

Once the privileges are active, sign in to the application through Team access, select the required country and survey round, and open Data access from the dashboard's top navigation. Choose the required aggregated dataset from the available destinations. The application carries the selected country and exact survey round to the download page. The datasets shown depend on the selected survey and the privileges associated with the account.

General users can obtain DIEM microdata through the FAO Food and Agriculture Microdata Catalogue (FAM). Legitimate requestors who need household-level data from very recent surveys not yet included in FAM may submit this access request after creating a DIEM account. The DIEM team evaluates each request, and access is granted only to eligible requestors. Access to anonymized data is provided for a limited time and for specific surveys only.

DIEM microdata are disseminated in coded form. Python and R tools that apply the official value labels while preserving the original data structure and file format are available in the public DIEM microdata-labelling repository.

18. Metadata

DIEM data are organized around three questionnaire generations. V1 covers surveys conducted before December 2022; these datasets are archived. V2 covers surveys conducted from December 2022 using the subsequent questionnaire and data structure. V3 is the latest questionnaire generation and is currently in the testing phase. V3 metadata will be provided after the first survey produced with the V3 questionnaire has been published. Questionnaire revisions changed fields, definitions, codebooks and data structures. Comparisons across versions may therefore be limited or impossible and should be approached with caution.

For V1, download the archived aggregated-data field descriptions, microdata field descriptions and codebooks. For V2, download the current field descriptions and codebook. Moreover, the detailed metadata are based on the SDMX metadata framework.

If an Excel link opened from an email or an ArcGIS item page is redirected to Office Viewer instead of downloading, right-click the Download link and choose Save link as.

The questionnaires used for data collection across V1, V2 and future V3 surveys are available in the DIEM questionnaire catalogue. Following each collection round, data are cleaned, aggregated, analysed and validated before being appended to the relevant thematic datasets.

19. Troubleshooting

A theme, tool, or resource is missing

The selected survey may not support it, the required published service may not be ready, or the feature may require authorization. Hidden features should not be interpreted as empty results.

An indicator is missing

The selected survey may not have asked the question, or the available data may be entirely empty or zero. Open More indicators before concluding that the indicator is unavailable.

An indicator card failed

Use the card's Retry control. Other cards can remain available while the failed query is retried.

A focus-area view returned to Full survey

A required focus-area service could not be loaded. The app returns to the safe full-survey context.

A V2 survey opened a legacy dashboard

The survey did not meet the verified native-V2 routing requirements, or its native load failed. The legacy dashboard is the intended safe fallback.

The corresponding estimate is unavailable for that round or geography. The app preserves the gap rather than substituting zero or silently joining across it.

Data Lab withholds a group or area

Read the disclosure message in the workspace. Small groups or administrative units are withheld under the displayed rules.

Sign in through Team access. A shared link does not carry the sender's authorization.

The layout looks different on a small screen

The map and indicator panel stack at narrower widths, and indicator cards move to fewer columns. The survey, theme, map, and selection logic remains the same.