Understanding Society data consists of multiple files, downloadable as a single zipped folder and released through the UK Data Service, in SPSS, Stata and tab delimited ASCII formats.
Every November data from Wave 1 until the latest Wave are released. Data from Wave 1 – Wave 15 were released in December 2025 and in November 2026 data from Wave 1 – Wave 16 will be released. Data from previous waves are released each time, so that any corrections can be incorporated. For details, see the Revisions to previous releases page.
Visit our Data Releases page to see the latest data available and when further updates are expected.
In preparing the data for the general release we have taken steps to maintain the confidentiality of responses. First, data such as names, addresses and open or narrative text, e.g., names of schools or employers are never released. However, some verbatim text responses to open-ended questions are coded and the coded variables are released. Second, data is made available via different levels of access, depending on the disclosure risk of the data. The agreements and access restrictions are progressively stricter for each level of access – End User Licence, Special Licence and Secure Data Access. Full details are provided on the page Access levels explained.
The access principles and guidance outlined in this section are derived from the Understanding Society Data Access Strategy.
Researchers who would like to use Understanding Society need to register with the UK Data Service before being allowed to download the dataset. Researchers should also read the UK Data Service Research Data Handling and Security: Guide for Users before downloading the data. Under the terms and conditions of access this is required reading for users who obtain Special Licence data or Secure Access data, where disclosure risk is increased.
The majority of users will need the End user Licence (EUL) version of the main survey data (6614) which requires users to agree to the licence agreement online after which they will be given instant access to the data. Datasets which fall under this access level category include most of the data and only exclude information that could be disclosive, such as day and month of birth, detailed country of birth, geographical level indicators below Regions (formerly, GOR) such as MOSA, LSOA etc, detailed job-related SOC and SIC codes, non-top-coded incomes etc. Most of these additional variables are available in the Special Licence version of the main survey data (6931). This document describes the differences between the Special Licence (SN 6931) and the End User Licence (SN 6614) versions. The Secure Data Access version of the main survey data (6646), includes the Special Licence data and some additional variables – full date of birth and postcode grid references (but not the postcodes).
Files containing levels of geography lower than Regions and other linked data are available as separate datasets, also under different levels of access. This is explained on our Data linkage page. For more information about the geography datasets read the Understanding Society Geography data user guide and the Geographical data linkage page.
Download the EUL version of Understanding Society data direct from the UK Data Service.
