Study title

The first level of living survey started within the framework of a governmental commission set up to study the prevalence and problems of low incomes. Their task was broadly defined, so beside a range of studies on income and income distributions they also commissioned a group of sociologists, headed by Sten Johansson, to study the distribution of welfare in Sweden more generally. The study by Johansson and his colleagues, undertaken in 1968, came to be known as the Level of Living Survey. From the beginning it was not the longitudinal aspect that was the novelty, but rather the fact that a wide spectrum of living conditions was studied with the survey method as such. The division of level of living into different components, inspired by the work within the UN, resulted in the following list of components included in the Swedish Level of Living Surveys: Health and access to care; Employment and working conditions; Economic resources; Educational resources; Family and social integration; Housing and neighbourhood facilities; Security of life and property; Recreation and culture; Political resources. The first survey was based on a 0.0001 random sample of the Swedish population aged 15 to 75 years of age. The interviews were made face-to-face according to a structured questionnaire covering all areas listed above. A large number of questions were asked dealing with a variety of aspects within each area. The 1968 survey was to be repeated in 1974, and the decision was made to stick to the original sample but also include new cohorts of young people and immigrants arriving to Sweden in between the survey periods. Dropped from the sample was those above 75 years of age and those who had either emigrated or died. In 1981 the third Level of Living Survey was conducted with the same sample design and by and large with the same questionnaire. When Johansson left the project in 1982 Robert Erikson became the project leader. Erikson was project leader for the fourth...