General Lifestyle Survey, 1971-2011

Organisation responsible: Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Background and purpose: The General Lifestyle Survey (GLS), formerly known as the General Household Survey (GHS), was a multi-purpose continuous survey carried out by the ONS and collected information on a range of topics from people living in private households in Great Britain. The GLS was formerly a module of the Integrated Household Survey. It was discontinued in 2011 with some questions moving to the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey.

Survey years / frequency: The survey ran continuously from 1971-2011, except for breaks in 1997/98 (when the survey was reviewed) and 1999/2000 when the survey was redeveloped.

Survey content: The GLS collected 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 collected 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. The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey includes some, but not all, of the GLS questions on smoking, alcohol consumption and general health.

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

Sample size: In 2011, 11,381 addresses were sampled across Great Britain. The survey aimed to interview all adults aged 16 or over at every household at the sampled address. The 2011 survey included interviews with 18,367 people in Great Britain, 1,644 of whom were resident in Scotland.

Response rate: In 2011 the overall response rate was 74 per cent. This indicates how many full and partial interviews were achieved as a proportion of those eligible for the survey.

Method of data collection: Data were collected by face-to-face personal interview, using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) in more recent surveys.

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 GLS were published annually in an overview report. The ONS also published a series of technical appendices, other reports that make use of the survey data and customisable datasets. Further information on the GLS is available from the ONS website. The GLS datasets are available from the UK Data Service