Centre for Longitudinal Studies

The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) is a continuing, multi-disciplinary longitudinal study which began in 1970, when data were collected about the births and families of babies born in the UK between 5th and 11th April, 1970.

The first survey, called the British Births Survey, aimed to look at the social and biological characteristics of the mother in relation to neonatal morbidity, and to compare the results with those of the first National Child Development Study (NCDS), conducted in 1958.

To date there have been five attempts to gather information from the full cohort, in 1975, 1980, 1986, 1996 and 1999-2000, at ages five years, 10 years, 16 years, 26 years and 29-30 years. These studies have been conducted under various titles, by several organisations over time, and the series is now the responsibility of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (formerly the Social Statistics Research Unit, or SSRU).