Overview

The Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) aims to better understand how young and mid-life adults in the UK are transitioning to adulthood, forming partnerships and families, and coping with recent economic, social, and political uncertainty. The project team are collecting nationally representative data from 7000 people in the UK using a complex online survey. This is the first time the GGS has been conducted in the UK, with the UK previously omitted from many cross-national comparisons.

The UK GGS will fill a gap in internationally comparable information about early adulthood and mid-life (ages 18-59), which will complement and supplement existing UK data sources. Current data sources do not capture the complexity of family events. They miss those born throughout the late 1970s, 80s, and 90s who have been experiencing the most intense employment and family changes, or underrepresent lone mothers, separated, and blended families. The UK therefore lacks a comprehensive source of data to examine families in the new millennium; this project addresses these shortfalls and allows the examination of emerging social challenges.

The project includes a methodological work package to provide insights into the accuracy of online data collection, allowing for design and implementation improvements. There will also be a demographic work package focussing on reproductive intentions, fertility treatments, miscarriages, and abortions throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

The GGS is one of the main outputs of the Generations and Gender Programme (GGP), an international Research Infrastructure supported by the European Commission. Over the past 20 years, the GGP has collected survey data in 25 countries in Europe and beyond. The GGP's recent round of surveys, called GGS2020, seeks to understand how families have been changing over the past two decades.