Analyzing perceived limiting long-term illness using UK census microdata

The 1991 Census of England, Wales and Scotland is an improvement on previous censuses in providing fine-grained detail on the geography of limiting long-term illness. Another innovation of the 1991 Census is the release of a Sample of Anonymized Records (SARs). These provide a considerable sample of detailed data on individuals at the sub-regional level. This paper explores individual and geographical variations in morbidity through a multilevel analysis of the SARs. Geographical differences in morbidity are found even after allowing for age, sex, ethnicity, housing tenure, social class and car ownership.