Finding data

The Ethnic Population Projections project aims to understand the likely demographic changes in the UK in the 21st century and the  impact upon it of international migration. It also seeks to understand the impact that the differences in fertility and mortality across the UK's ethnic groups will have in shaping future demographic trends.

It is intended that the projections which result will form a useful resource for social scientists in the UK, while building capacity in the analysis of demographic change. It will also draw on best international practice for the benefit of the social science community in the UK.

The Administrative Data Liaison Service (ADLS) is funded by the ESRC to support administrative data based research in the UK.

Administrative data in the UK is extensive but remains a relatively undiscovered and underused tool for research. It has potential to inform social scientific research, either directly through analysis of such data or through linkage to other datasets.

The service is managed by the University of St Andrews, in conjunction with the Universities of Oxford and Manchester. The ADLS does not hold administrative data but functions as an intermediary between academic researchers and data holding organisations to aid with communication, promote the research uses of administrative data, and provide expertise in legal and ethical research, data security, disclosure risks and data linkage. Data can be located by research theme, data provider, or publication hub.

The Annual Population Survey, a major cross-sectional survey series, aims to provide data that produce reliable estimates at local authority level.  The topics covered by the survey include: household composition and relationships; housing tenure; nationality; ethnicity and residential history; employment and training; workplace and location; job hunting; educational background and qualifications. Many of the variable included are the same as those in the Labour Force Survey.

Housing and Neighbourhoods monitor is maintained by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It aims to provide a snapshot of housing and neighbourhood trends across the UK. This includes the ability to view Google Map visualisations, charts and associated analysis for locations in the UK. Users may search by postcode to view such indicators as housing market supply, demand, and housing, levels of affordable housing, prices, demography, homelessness, labour market, neighbourhood characteristics and recent trends in relation to the rest of Britain.  Underlying statistical data is government sourced and can be downloaded as raw ASCII CSV.

 Data.gov.uk is a government run project powered by the Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network (CKAN) open data registry. It provides access to a range of government datasets in addition to a developer space which allows users to interact, link and create data resources. The data content covers all areas of government policy ranging from health, to economy, crime, and education. Users can search by theme or keyword. The developer space provides access to Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and other widgets. The site also includes a blog, wiki, twitter and RSS feed and forum where users can share ideas on new applications, mashups and uses of government data.

This site provides access to global population and human statistics, gathered mainly from the CIA Factbook. The data is divided up into four sections; country, region, global and comparative statistics. The information is freely available with no registration required.

"The Longitudinal Studies Centre - Scotland (LSCS) is responsible for the establishment and maintenance of the Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS). This dataset includes a large sample of the Scottish population and links together various demographic, socio-economic and health data about these individuals. The data are available to academics and support is provided free of charge by a team of researchers. The site also includes links to recent research projects, training opportunities and events.

The Census Dissemination Unit, hosted by the Mimas national data centre as part of the ESRC Census Programme provides access to a range of census statistical output including Census Area Statistics (1971, 1981, 1991, 2001) via Casweb. It also provides access to Deprivation Scores - composite indices using standardised census variables  such as employment, social class and availability of cars. Deprivation Scores can assist in the measurement of social deprivation. They can also be useful for healthcare services analysis. Scores available include: 2001 Townsend scores; 2001 Carstairs scores; Communities and Local Government Indices of Deprivation for England;  the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation; the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2005; the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2005.