N. Ireland Life and Times Survey - Datasets


Download the datasets

The raw data for each survey year is available in SPSS and STATA v14 format, so that users can run their own analysis.

The NILT data must be weighted (unless using household variables). For full details, please see the technical notes.

SPSS files:
  • From 1998 to 2014, the SPSS files are SPSS portable files, and should be compatible with any version of SPSS running under any operating system (for example,Windows or MAC).
  • From 2015 onwards, the files are SPSS.sav format, which should be compatible with earlier versions of SPSS. Some of these files are compressed and saved in zip format. After downloading the file, you will need to unzip it.

A series of teaching datasets have been developed, designed to be used on courses teaching quantitative statistical analysis in the social sciences.

All work that uses or refers to the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey should acknowledge it using the appropriate bibliographic citation. To view the citation for each year, please click on the word 'citation' below.

YEAR SPSS STATA  
2021 NILT 2021 data (549KB) NILT 2021 data (3.7MB) Citation
2020 NILT 2020 data (428KB) NILT 2020 data (2.9MB) Citation
2019 NILT 2019 data (389KB) NILT 2019 data (2.6MB) Citation
2018 NILT 2018 data (408KB) NILT 2018 data (2.6MB) Citation
2017 NILT 2017 data (389KB) NILT 2017 data (2.5MB) Citation
2016 NILT 2016 data (493KB) NILT 2016 data (2.6MB) Citation
2015 NILT 2015 data (892KB) NILT 2015 data (4.5MB) Citation
2014 NILT 2014 data - zip format (210KB) NILT 2014 data(4.6MB) Citation
2013 NILT 2013 data - zip format (209KB) NILT 2013 data (5.3MB) Citation
2012 NILT 2012 data - zip format (176 KB) NILT 2012 data (4.2MB) Citation
2011 The 2011 survey did not run in 2011 as we were unable to confirm the full package of funding required in time to allow fieldwork to take place  
2010 NILT 2010 data - zip format (237 KB) NILT 2010 data (4.1MB) Citation
2009 NILT 2009 data - zip format (213 KB) NILT 2009 data (3.3MB) Citation
2008 NILT 2008 data - zip format (256 KB) NILT 2008 data (4MB) Citation
2007 NILT 2007 data - zip format (287 KB) NILT 2007 data (4.4MB)   Citation
2006*** NILT 2006 data - zip format (257 KB) NILT 2006 data (4.3MB) Citation
2005 NILT 2005 data - zip format (524 KB) NILT 2005 (11.6MB) Citation
2004 NILT 2004 data - zip format (489 KB) NILT 2004 (5.7MB) Citation
2003 NILT 2003 data - zip format NILT 2003 (8.5MB) Citation
2002 NILT 2002 data - zip format (521 KB) NILT 2002 (7.1MB) Citation
2001 NILT 2001 data - zip format (374 KB) NILT 2001 (8.1MB) Citation
2000** NILT 2000 data - zip format (335 KB) NILT 2000 (5.9MB) Citation
1999* NILT 1999 data - zip format (466 KB) NILT 1999 (8.5MB) Citation
1998 NILT 1998 data - zip format (448 KB) NILT 1998 (7.3MB) Citation

*** The datasets for 2006 exclude TRAVCOLL, TRAVRES, TRAVREL, EECOLL, EERES, EEREL, MEGCOLLA, MEGRESA, MEGRELA, MUSCOLL2, MUSRES2, MUSREL2 due to data irregularities.

** The data files for 2000 exclude the Social Capital section of the Community Relations module, and the Welfare Reform module. If you would like to use this data, please contact us

* The data files for 1999 exclude the Pensions and Pensioners module. If you would like to use this data, please contact us


NILT is a freely available resource for anyone interested in attitudes of people in Northern Ireland. There is no charge to use the statistics or data available on this website. However, we are always interested in how the findings are used, and so would be very grateful if you would let us know how you have used them. In particular, copies or links to reports or articles are very welcome. Our contact details are available in the Helpline section.