University of Gothenburg

GOLD

GOLD - Gothenburg Educational Longitudinal Database. The project compiles information from many different sources, taking advantage of the fact that in Sweden registry data is stored with a personal identification number.

About the project

The first data was collected in 1961 in the "Individual Statistics" (IS) project. The IS database currently includes data from 8 cohorts born between 1948 and 1992, the sample for each cohort typically comprising some 9 000 students. Follow-up data collections in upper secondary school have also been compiled, and information has also been added through excerpts from official registries (e.g., military enlistment data, study finance information, higher education exam, and income).

Another key component of GOLD is registry data for all cohorts of 16-year-olds born from 1972 and onwards. For each individual there is a rich set of information concerning family background, school achievement, higher education, study finance, municipal adult education, the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test, employment, and income, among other things. For males test scores from the military enlistment battery also are available. Currently the database includes information about 3.3 million persons born between 1972 and 2001, and it is continuously extended with new cohorts and updated information.