The Annual Population Survey (APS) is a combined statistical survey

Statistical survey

Survey methodology is the field that studies surveys, that is, the sample of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies....

 of households in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 which is conducted quarterly by the Office for National Statistics

Office for National Statistics

The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Overview :...

 (ONS). It combines results from the Labour Force Survey

Labour Force Survey

Labour Force Surveys are statistical surveys conducted in a number of countries designed to capture data about the labour market. All European Union member states are required to conduct a Labour Force Survey annually. Labour Force Surveys are also carried out in some non-EU countries. They are...

 (LFS) and the English, Welsh and Scottish Labour Force Survey boosts which are funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the Department for Work and Pensions

Department for Work and Pensions

The Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and...

 (DWP), the National Assembly for Wales

National Assembly for Wales

The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...

 and the Scottish Executive

Scottish Executive

The Scottish Government is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was established in 1999 as the Scottish Executive, from the extant Scottish Office, and the term Scottish Executive remains its legal name under the Scotland Act 1998...

.

History

APS data was first published in July 2005, containing data collected between January and December 2004. Since then, APS data has been published quarterly but with each dataset relating to a whole year. Between January 2004 and December 2005, an additional sample boost, the APS boost, was introduced but then discontinued in 2006 due to a lack of funding. In 2007, the APS and the LFS data were reweighted by the ONS, now using population estimates for 2007-2008.

The key feature of the APS is its emphasis on relatively small geographic areas, providing information on selected social and socio-economic variables between the 10-yearly censuses. Some of the topics included in the APS are, for example, education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, health

Health

Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...

, employment

Employment

Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...

 and ethnicity.

Methodology and scope

The APS is published quarterly with each dataset containing 12 months of data. For each dataset, the sample size is approximately 170,000 households and 360,000 individuals.

Re-using the data

Users can obtain APS data from the Economic and Social Data Service

Economic and Social Data Service

The Economic and Social Data Service is a national data archiving and dissemination service that was founded in January 2003. It is funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Joint Information Systems Committee ....

(ESDS) website; certain data can also be accessed at the NOMIS website. The Labour Force Survey data service provides tables using APS data.

External links

• Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) website, retrieved September 16, 2009
• NOMIS, official labour market statistics website, retrieved September 16, 2009
• Office for National Statistics (ONS) website, retrieved September 16, 2009