Some of these cookies are essential, while others help us to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.
For more detailed information please check our Cookie notice
Necessary cookies
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. This website cannot function properly without these cookies.
Cookies that measure website use
If you provide permission, we will use Google Analytics to measure how you use the website so we can improve it based on our understanding of user needs. Google Analytics sets cookies that store anonymised information about how you got to the site, the pages you visit, how long you spend on each page and what you click on while you’re visiting the site.
These UK surveys can be used to produce national estimates.
They can all be used to describe a population at one point of time and most can be used to compare populations at more than one time point. Many are large surveys that are used to inform policy.
Below is a list of some of the key studies that provide UK survey data.
The Annual Population Survey (APS) combines data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and national boosts. Datasets contain 12 months of data and responses from 122,000 households and 320,000 people. It thus improves intercensal monitoring of key variables for a range of policy purposes.
British Social Attitudes(BSA) is conducted by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and tracks people’s changing social, political and moral attitudes and informs the development of public policy. It has been conducted since 1983, with over 6,000 respondents annually and questions repeated periodically.
The Citizenship Survey was conducted seven times between 2001 and 2011. The survey was first implemented on a biennial basis from 2001 to 2007. The data became available on a quarterly basis from April 2007 onward. The survey was designed to capture information on community cohesion, civic engagement, race and faith, and volunteering.
The Community Life Survey (CLS) was first commissioned by the Cabinet Office in 2012-2013. It is an annual household survey conducted with adults resident in England, covering a range of topics including measures that are key to understanding society and local communities, such as volunteering, charitable giving, civic engagement and social action.
The Continuous Household Survey (CHS) is one of the largest continuous surveys carried out in Northern Ireland. It has been conducted by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) since 1983. The survey samples over 4,000 households annually and covers a wide range of social and economic issues.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales (formerly the British Crime Survey) asks nearly 50,000 people living in households in England and Wales about their experiences of crime in the last 12 months.
The English Housing Survey (EHS) began in 2008-09, bringing together two previous housing surveys into a single fieldwork operation: the English House Condition Survey (EHCS) which ran in five years between 1967 and 2001 and became continuous from 2002 to 2007, and the Survey of English Housing (SEH) which ran from 1993/94 to 2007-08. Commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government (MHCLG), the EHS collects information from households on housing circumstances.
The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) an instrument aimed at collecting timely and comparable cross-sectional and longitudinal microdata on income, poverty and social exclusion. The available datasets are cross-sectional data for the UK.
The Family Expenditure Survey (FES) , which ran from 1961, was a continuous survey of household expenditure and personal income. In 2001, the FES was merged with the National Food Survey (NFS) to create the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS), which subsequently became the Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF) from 2008.
The Family Resources Survey (FRS) is a continuous survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics and National Centre for Social Research with an annual target sample of 24,000 private households. Respondents are asked a wide range of questions about their financial circumstances including receipt of Social Security benefits, housing costs, assets and savings.
The FRSIndividual Income Series provides estimates of the individual income of men and women in Great Britain and changes in income over time. The series seek to compare the incomes that accrue to women with those that accrue to men. The data are derived directly from the Family Resources Survey (FRS) and the Households Below Average Income (HBAI).
The General Lifestyle Survey (formerly the General Household Survey) was a multi-purpose survey carried out by the Office for National Statistics from 1971-2012. It was a survey of private households on a wide range of topics. The information was used by government departments and other organisations for developing policy and performance assessment.
The Health Survey for England (HSE) is a series of annual surveys carried out since 1991 with a number of core questions and a particular topic focus. The survey uses a mixture of questionnaires, physical measurements and blood samples.
Households Below Average Income (HBAI) uses household disposable incomes, after adjusting for the household size and composition, as a proxy for material living standards. More precisely, it is a proxy for the level of consumption of goods and services that people could attain given the disposable income of the household in which they live. The main source of data used in this study is the Family Resources Survey, which is a continuous cross- sectional survey.
The Integrated Household Survey (IHS) began in 2009 to produce datasets from the core variables of individual survey modules, including the Annual Population Survey, Life Opportunities Survey and Living Costs and Food Survey (with varying degrees over the years 2009-2014). The IHS datasets are no longer produced from 2015 onwards. For more information see the FAQs ‘Which surveys (or modules) are included in the IHS?’ and ‘What is the Integrated Household Survey (IHS)?’.
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a survey of the employment circumstances of the UK population. It is the largest survey with a consistent design and provides the official measures of employment and unemployment. Key variables from the LFS and its boost samples are used to generate the Annual Population Survey (APS).
The Life Opportunities Survey (LOS) is a longitudinal survey that was carried out between June 2009 and September 2014 by the Office for National Statistics on behalf of the Office for Disability Issues. The survey started with a random sample of 37,500 households across Britain and tracks the experiences of disabled people over time.
The Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF) replaced the Expenditure and Food Survey in 2008. It collects information on spending patterns and the cost of living. It is conducted by the Office for National Statistics and achieves a sample of around 6,000 households.
The Living in Wales Survey series (LIW) was the main general source of statistical information about households and the condition of homes in Wales and ran from 2004 to 2008, consisting of a household survey and a property survey. It has now been succeeded by the National Survey for Wales.
The National Food Survey was originally set up in 1940 by the then Ministry of Food to monitor the adequacy of diets during wartime. About 8,000 households took part each year until 2000 when it was replaced by the Living Costs and Food Survey.
The National Survey for Wales is a key source of information for the Welsh Government, other public sector organisations, and academics on the views and circumstances of people in Wales. Prior to March 2020, the survey was carried out face-to-face in respondents’ homes. Since May 2020 onwards, the survey has been conducted by telephone, with an online element added from July 2021 onwards. Data are collected from a random sample of over 10,000 adults a year. The survey covers a range of issues and topics, which are reviewed each year.
The National Travel Survey (NTS) is a series of household surveys to study personal travel behaviour. Data are available starting in 1972 although the survey design has changed since then. Recent studies have data from around 7,000 households.
The Northern Ireland Family Expenditure Survey (NIFES) was a continuous survey of household expenditure and income that started in 1967 and linked with the Great Britain FES in 1968 to create a UK survey. It was superseded in 2001 by the Expenditure and Food Survey, covering the whole of the UK. For most of its existence, data are available for both the UK and separately for Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Labour Force Survey (NILFS) is carried out by the Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Research and Statistics Agency (NISRA). It is closely related to the Great Britain survey and feeds into UK statistics. The data are also available separately for Northern Ireland from 1995-2000.
The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey(NILT) is a descendent of the Northern Ireland Social Attitudes Survey. It was launched in 1998 and monitors the attitudes and behaviour of people in Northern Ireland.
The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) is a regular multi-purpose survey, which since 2005 has run monthly covering core demographic information with non- core questions that vary from month to month.
In 2008 the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) replaced the Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey (following the Scottish Crime Survey). The SCJS is a social survey that asks about experiences and perceptions of crime in Scotland. It currently involves interviewing selected adult in 16,000 households across Scotland annually.
The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) provides a detailed picture of the health status of the Scottish population living in private households. The survey was launched in 1995, with subsequent surveys took place in 1998 and 2003. Since 2008, the SHeS has run continuously with a two-stage process (a personal interview for the whole sample, followed by a nurse visit for one sixth of the sample).
The Scottish Social Attitudes Survey (SSA) is an annual sister survey to the British Social Attitudes Survey, to chart and interpret attitudes on a range of issues. The sample is based on approximately 1,600 adults and data is available on an annual basis since 1999.
The United Kingdom Time Use Survey was conducted twice in 2000-2001 and 2014-2015 to measure the amount of time spent by the UK population aged 8 years and over on various activities. Data are collected using a household questionnaire, individual questionnaire and two 24-hour self-completion diaries.
The Vital Statistics (VS) are tabular data on births, deaths and marriages for England and Wales. Various tables are available from the UK Data Service from 1981 to 2006.
The Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS) is a longitudinal survey, which aims to address gaps identified in data about the economic well-being of households by gathering information on level of assets, savings and debt; saving for retirement; how wealth is distributed among households or individuals; and factors that affect financial planning.
The Welsh Health Survey (WHS), ran from 1995-1998 and then 2003/04-2015. The survey gathered data on health status and health-related services in Wales. From April 2016 health and health-related lifestyles are reported on using the National Survey for Wales.
The Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) provides reliable, nationally representative data on the state of workplace relations and employment practices in Britain. Data are available for several years from 1980 in cross-sectional, panel and linked formats. The survey was originally referred to as the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (WIRS).
The Young People’s Social Attitudes (YPSA) survey is conducted by the National Centre for Social Research as part of the British Social Attitudes Survey. The YPSA was conducted on an occasional basis (in 1994, 1998 and 2003). The survey was designed to compare the attitudes and values of young people with those of adults in the same year of the YPSA and with other young people interviewed on the other years of the survey.
