ethovertime
Notes from the GHS
Question
I am using the General Household Survey (GHS) for a
number of years to construct a consistent time series dataset. Prior to 1983,
there seems not to be any information about the ethnicity (origin) of the
individual, although variables that identify the country of birth of the individual
(variable: whborn) and her/his parents' exist (e.g. paborn, maborn). Is there
a specific reason that the ethnicity of the individual is not revealed? From
year 1983 onwards the variable "origin" identifies the origin of
the individual. Would you please check if the above observation is correct
and advise me appropriately?
Answer
You are right, The data available
for ethnicity is inconsistent and changed over time. This is partly because
ethnicity is multi-faceted, evolving and changing phenomenon. Various possible
ways of measuring ethnic groups are available and have been used over time.
An example is different classifications for ethnic group between 1991 and
2001 Censuses. Some measures such as country of birth as you mentioned, are
used in conjunction with, for example, nationality, language spoken at home
and religion to constitute ethnicity. We have produced some information about
the consistency of country
of birth on the GHS.
