The General Household Survey (GHS) is a multi-purpose continuous survey carried out by the Social Survey Division of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which collects information on a range of topics from people living in private households in Great Britain. The survey started in 1971 and has been carried out continuously since then, except for breaks in 1997/98 (when the survey was reviewed) and 1999/2000 when the survey was re-developed.

The main aim of the survey is to collect data on a range of core topics, comprising:

household and family information; housing tenure and household accommodation; consumer durables including vehicle ownership; employment; education; health and use of health services; smoking and drinking; family information including marriage, cohabitation and fertility; income; and demographic information about household members including migration.

The information is used by government departments and other organisations for planning, policy and monitoring purposes, and to present a picture of households, families and people in Great Britain.

The GHS has documented the major changes in households, families and people which have occurred over the last 30 years. These include the decline in average household size and the growth in the proportion of the population who live alone, the increase in the proportion of families headed by a lone parent and in the percentage of people who are cohabiting. It has also recorded changes in housing, such as the growth of home ownership, and the increasing proportion of homes with household facilities and goods such as central heating, washing machines, home computers and access to the internet. The survey also monitors trends in the prevalence of smoking and drinking.

Fieldwork for the GHS is conducted on a financial year basis, with interviewing taking place continuously throughout the year. A sample of approximately 13,000 addresses is selected each year from the Postcode Address File. All adults aged 16 and over are interviewed in each responding household. Demographic and health information is also collected about children in the household. For 2001/2, the survey response rate was 72%, with an achieved sample size of 8989 households and 21180 people of all ages (see Appendix B).

The survey is sponsored by ONS, the Department of Health, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department of Transport (formerly DTLR), the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Inland Revenue, the Department for Education and Skills, the Scottish Executive, the Government Actuary’s Department, and a public sector organisation, the Health Development Agency.