Our Society by Numbers

After two centuries of increasing life expectancy in the UK, it is now generally accepted that there was a stagnation, or even a deterioration, in life expectancy during the 2010s. The Coronavirus pandemic has brought a further spike in death rates with the potential for longer term negative impacts and associated reductions in life expectancy. This presentation will use Social Statistics to weigh up the evidence on whether the historic trend towards longer healthier lives in the UK has come to an end.

Reflecting upon 15 years of research on inequalities in children’s wellbeing in Scotland, this session explores some of the positive and frustrating aspects of survey research in the social sciences. We look at how social surveys help us better understand social inequalities in children’s wellbeing, and in how these inequalities may change over time. However, survey research can be frustrating as we rarely decide what questions are asked, and participants can drop out of surveys or not answer all questions. This session is a guided tour through the troubled mind of a social survey researcher!