Overview of key data sources: General Household Survey

Organisation responsible: Office for National Statistics.

Background and purpose: The General Household Survey (GHS) collects information on a range of topics from people living in private households in Great Britain. This information is used by government departments and other organisations for planning, policy and monitoring purposes. The survey presents a picture of households, families and people living in Great Britain.

Survey years / frequency: The GHS started in 1971 and has been carried out continuously since then, except for breaks to review it in 1997/1998 and to re-develop it in 1999/2000.

Survey content: The GHS collects data on a range of topics including: households and families; housing tenure and household accommodation; consumer durables; employment; education; health and use of health services; marriage and cohabitation; income; and, demographic information. In terms of health-related data, the survey collects a range of information including: self-reported general health; self-reported long-standing illness and limiting long-standing illness; self-reported acute sickness; GP consultations; hospital treatment; dental health; smoking; and, alcohol consumption.

Target population: Adults aged 16 years and over living in private households in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland).

Sample size: The GHS normally samples around 13,000 addresses each year across Great Britain and aims to interview all adults aged 16 years and over in every household at the sampled addresses. The 2003 survey included interviews with 24,489 people in Great Britain, 2,090 of whom were resident in Scotland.

Response rate: Approximately 70%. This is based on the proportion of sampled households known to be eligible from whom all or nearly all the information is obtained.

Method of data collection: Data is collected by face-to-face personal interview using computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI).

Smallest geographical unit reported: Government Office Region (North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West, Wales, Scotland).

Availability of results and further information: Results from the GHS are published annually in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publication 'Living in Britain'. The ONS also publishes a series of technical appendices and reports relating to the survey. Results from the survey are currently available up to 2003. Further information on the GHS, including survey publications, are available from the ONS website. The GHS datasets are available from the UK Data Archive.