Welcome to the NILS-RSU website – supporting usage of the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study datasets. The function of the unit is to provide assistance to researchers from both the academic sector and government in accessing and utilising two census based data sources: the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study (NILS) - a 28% sample of the population (approximately 500,000 people) linking diverse demographic, socio-economic and health data on these individuals; and the Northern Ireland Mortality Study (NIMS) - a dataset which links the census records for the whole enumerated population of 2001 (approximately 1.6 million people) to subsequently occurring deaths.

The unit is funded by the ESRC Census Programme and is free to all users.

Further information on the data is available here. Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in accessing the data.

NILS-RSU Update

Recent publications

• McCann, M., O'Reilly, D. and Cardwell, C. (2009) A Census-based longitudinal study of variations in survival amongst residents of nursing and residential homes in Northern Ireland. Age and Ageing, 38(6): 711-717.
• McClelland, A., and Donnelly, D. (2009) Pervasive Area Poverty: Modelled Household Income in a NILS Context . OFMDFM. Project details
• O'Reilly, D., Connolly, S., Rosato, M., and Patterson, C. (2008) Is caring associated with an increased risk of mortality? A longitudinal study . Soc Sci Med, 67(8):1282-90. Project details

Recent presentations 

• Project 020: Shuttleworth, I. 'Tilting the balance? Population redistribution through internal migration in Northern Ireland 2001-07' ( Powerpoint 2007 )
• Project 020: Shuttleworth, I. 'Post 2001 geographies of internal migration in Northern Ireland: Insights from the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study' ( Powerpoint 2007 )

 Recent projects approved by the Research Approvals Group

• Project 037: Socio-demographic and socio-economic factors related to risk of avoidable and preventable deaths in Northern Ireland. Further details
• Project 036: Variation in morbidity and mortality by country of birth in Northern Ireland. Further details
• Project 035: DHSSPS Equality assessment of health outcomes using NILS.  Further details