[1] The origins of the NCDS can be found in the Perinatal Mortality Survey (PMS)[2] which was then sponsored by the National Birthday Trust Fund[3] and set up to collect information about the social and obstetric factors associated with stillbirth and death in early infancy.
98% of women (17,205) who gave birth in England, Scotland and Wales to 17,415 babies during the week of 3–9 March 1958 completed the survey.
This follow-up survey was led by Mia Kellmer Pringle and attempts were made to trace all members of this birth generational cohort.
[7] By 2016 the NCDS has been conducted in nine different sweeps to get information concerning the physical, educational and social development of the people from the initial survey: in 1965, 1969, 1974, 1981, 1991, 1999–2000, 2004, 2008 and 2014.
[9] Examples of topics which have been included are medical care, health, home environment, educational progress, parental involvement, family relationships, economic activity, income, training and housing.
In 1985, the NCDS was moved to the Social Statistics Research Unit (SSRU), which in 2016 was known as the Centre for Longitudinal Studies[11] (CLS).