Home > Data and documentation > Main Survey > Variables

Mainstage Variable

isced

ISCED levels

Datafile

indresp

Index terms

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	965	6.69%
Not defined	0	266	1.84%
Primary	1	2900	20.11%
Low secondary	2	135	0.94%
3c:low sec-voc	3	4052	28.1%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	1927	13.36%
5b:higher voc	5	2218	15.38%
5a:first degree	6	1533	10.63%
6:higher degree	7	423	2.93%
	Total	14419	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	948	6.37%
Not defined	0	233	1.57%
Primary	1	3065	20.61%
low secondary	2	142	0.95%
3c:low sec-voc	3	4254	28.6%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	1957	13.16%
5b:higher voc	5	2304	15.49%
5a:first degree	6	1542	10.37%
6:higher degree	7	428	2.88%
	Total	14873	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	977	6.35%
Not defined	0	257	1.67%
Primary	1	3265	21.21%
low secondary	2	152	0.99%
3c:low sec-voc	3	4401	28.59%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	1959	12.73%
5b:higher voc	5	2392	15.54%
5a:first degree	6	1564	10.16%
6:higher degree	7	425	2.76%
	Total	15392	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	982	6.29%
Not defined	0	286	1.83%
Primary	1	3386	21.68%
low secondary	2	156	1.0%
3c:low sec-voc	3	4439	28.42%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	1973	12.63%
5b:higher voc	5	2413	15.45%
5a:first degree	6	1557	9.97%
6:higher degree	7	425	2.72%
	Total	15617	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	1014	6.42%
Not defined	0	257	1.63%
Primary	1	3534	22.38%
low secondary	2	162	1.03%
3c:low sec-voc	3	4435	28.09%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	1915	12.13%
5b:higher voc	5	2516	15.93%
5a:first degree	6	1529	9.68%
6:higher degree	7	429	2.72%
	Total	15791	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	891	5.49%
Not defined	0	253	1.56%
Primary	1	3836	23.62%
low secondary	2	176	1.08%
3c:low sec-voc	3	4563	28.1%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	1949	12.0%
5b:higher voc	5	2613	16.09%
5a:first degree	6	1540	9.48%
6:higher degree	7	417	2.57%
	Total	16238	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	889	5.36%
Not defined	0	93	0.56%
Primary	1	4162	25.08%
low secondary	2	184	1.11%
3c:low sec-voc	3	4685	28.23%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	1918	11.56%
5b:higher voc	5	2705	16.3%
5a:first degree	6	1549	9.33%
6:higher degree	7	412	2.48%
	Total	16597	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	801	4.25%
Not defined	0	234	1.24%
Primary	1	5110	27.08%
low secondary	2	195	1.03%
3c:low sec-voc	3	5366	28.44%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	2099	11.13%
5b:higher voc	5	3003	15.92%
5a:first degree	6	1637	8.68%
6:higher degree	7	422	2.24%
	Total	18867	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	522	3.35%
Not defined	0	194	1.24%
Primary	1	4145	26.57%
low secondary	2	196	1.26%
3c:low sec-voc	3	4426	28.37%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	1751	11.22%
5b:higher voc	5	2680	17.18%
5a:first degree	6	1371	8.79%
6:higher degree	7	318	2.04%
	Total	15603	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	435	2.78%
Not defined	0	181	1.16%
Primary	1	4345	27.81%
low secondary	2	205	1.31%
3c:low sec-voc	3	4395	28.13%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	1715	10.98%
5b:higher voc	5	2735	17.51%
5a:first degree	6	1310	8.39%
6:higher degree	7	302	1.93%
	Total	15623	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	358	3.28%
Not defined	0	103	0.94%
Primary	1	2900	26.59%
low secondary	2	212	1.94%
3c:low sec-voc	3	3118	28.59%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	1137	10.43%
5b:higher voc	5	1990	18.25%
5a:first degree	6	886	8.12%
6:higher degree	7	202	1.85%
	Total	10906	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	365	3.26%
Not defined	0	99	0.88%
Primary	1	3088	27.59%
low secondary	2	227	2.03%
3c:low sec-voc	3	3140	28.05%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	1181	10.55%
5b:higher voc	5	2053	18.34%
5a:first degree	6	844	7.54%
6:higher degree	7	196	1.75%
	Total	11193	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	301	3.19%
Not defined	0	94	1.0%
Primary	1	2384	25.26%
low secondary	2	239	2.53%
3c:low sec-voc	3	2657	28.15%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	1056	11.19%
5b:higher voc	5	1763	18.68%
5a:first degree	6	764	8.09%
6:higher degree	7	180	1.91%
	Total	9438	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	422	4.56%
Not defined	0	88	0.95%
Primary	1	2381	25.74%
low secondary	2	247	2.67%
3c:low sec-voc	3	2568	27.77%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	997	10.78%
5b:higher voc	5	1671	18.07%
5a:first degree	6	715	7.73%
6:higher degree	7	160	1.73%
	Total	9249	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	421	4.44%
Not defined	0	96	1.01%
Primary	1	2553	26.93%
low secondary	2	265	2.8%
3c:low sec-voc	3	2654	27.99%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	987	10.41%
5b:higher voc	5	1653	17.43%
5a:first degree	6	709	7.48%
6:higher degree	7	143	1.51%
	Total	9481	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	576	6.0%
Not defined	0	75	0.78%
Primary	1	2630	27.4%
low secondary	2	271	2.82%
3c:low sec-voc	3	2725	28.39%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	945	9.84%
5b:higher voc	5	1566	16.31%
5a:first degree	6	672	7.0%
6:higher degree	7	140	1.46%
	Total	9600	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	386	3.92%
Not defined	0	98	1.0%
Primary	1	2949	29.95%
low secondary	2	323	3.28%
3c:low sec-voc	3	2823	28.67%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	953	9.68%
5b:higher voc	5	1543	15.67%
5a:first degree	6	636	6.46%
6:higher degree	7	134	1.36%
	Total	9845	100.0%

Value label	Value	Absolute frequency	Relative frequency
proxy	-7	352	3.43%
Not defined	0	50	0.49%
Primary	1	3332	32.46%
low secondary	2	407	3.97%
3c:low sec-voc	3	3002	29.25%
3a:hisec-mivoc	4	897	8.74%
5b:higher voc	5	1504	14.65%
5a:first degree	6	598	5.83%
6:higher degree	7	122	1.19%
	Total	10264	100.0%

Code creator
0

Create your own Stata code to extract data from the main end user licence Understanding Society dataset. Find out more

Saved variables

What else is Understanding Society doing?

A family celebrating

Understanding Society Wave 15

The latest wave of UKHLS is now available from the UK Data Service

Ariel view of a UK town

Understanding Society Wave 15 – what can data users expect?

The latest wave of data is out, so what’s included and what’s changed in this release?

Sushi Rolls not Gender Roles by Jeanne Menjoulet

Understanding Society used for Gender Equality Index

New tool measures men’s and women’s socioeconomic outcomes across UK

Photo of talk at an Understanding Society conference

Understanding Society Biosocial Conference 2026: combining biological and social data

A call for abstracts is now open - present your research at our Biosocial Conference

Email newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter

ESRC Institute for Social and Economic Research University of Essex

The Economic and Social Research Council is the primary funder of the study
The Study is led by a team at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex.