ABSTRACT

The LS is a record linkage study based on a 1% sample of the population enumerated in the 1971 Census of England and Wales. Information on vital events, such as deaths, has been added to the records on sample members, together with data collected in the 1981 and 1991 censuses. The sample has been maintained through the addition of 1% of new births and immigrants. The strengths of the LS lie in the large sample size and the ability to track the circumstances of surviving sample members through three censuses. The data collected in these three censuses on migration are, of course, available within the LS. However, the relatively small proportions moving in the year before census (only a one-year migration question was included in the 1981 and 1991 censuses) restrict the utility of this indicator for studying the migration patterns of population subgroups, such as the very old. A further problem with one-year migration data is that yearly fluctuations in migration reflecting economic up-and down-turns are quite considerable.1