The ONS Longitudinal Study – Opportunities for Historical Research on the England and Wales population.

Nicola Shelton, UCL
CeLSIUS Team, UCL

This presentation will showcase the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study (ONS-LS) and the opportunities that it offers for historical social science research on the England and Wales population. The ONS LS, follows a 1% sample of the England & Wales population of all ages from the decennial census data (1971 – 2011), linked to births, cause of death and cancer registration by cancer site data. Sample members are selected on the basis of four confidential birthdays, with new study members entering the study through birth on one of the four birthdays or immigration (and being born on one of the four birthdays) and leave through death or emigration. The main strength of the LS is its large sample size (>1 million), making it the largest nationally representative dataset in the UK, and allowing the analysis of small areas and specific population groups. Data is also available for all co-resident members of the household at the time of each Census. The ONS-LS currently has 46 years of follow-up data 1971 – 2017, and the upcoming linkage of the 2021 Census data to the LS will extend this follow-up to 2021 enabling researchers to examine changes that have taken place in individuals who lived in England and Wales and were enumerated at any Census between 1971 and 2021. The 1971 sample includes over 40,000 individuals who were born before 1901. The paper will introduce the data available in the ONS-LS and will discuss its size and scope and CeLSIUS the user support team who faciliate its use. The presentation also summarises some recent examples of research using the ONS-LS and highlights some key areas for future research.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 58. New Historical Data Reconstructions