Widow(er)hoods
Widow(er)hoods of LS members are generated from England and Wales (E&W) death registration data by using confidential particulars collected on the death registration draft, which is completed by the informant registering a death. The informant is asked whether the deceased was married or in a civil partnership; if so, the date of birth of the surviving spouse/civil partner is requested. If the date given for the spouse or civil partner is an LS date, the death registration is then matched to the LS member as a widow(er)hood.
This method of linkage is known to be incomplete. For example, if the informant did not register the deceased as married or did not give a correct LS date of birth for the surviving spouse, no linking to the LS member can be attempted.
Methods
The LS includes linked census and events data for people born on one of four selected dates in a calendar year. As such, the LS samples 4/365 of people born in non leap years and 4/366 of people born in leap years. This represents approximately 4/365.25 of the population resident in England and Wales in any given year. The number of expected widow(er)hoods occurring to LS members in any calendar year will be given by FIGURE 1.
In census years, the formula uses the estimated numbers of England and Wales widow(er)hoods from the start of the year up to the day before census night (pre-census) and from the day after census night until the end of the year (post-Census). This allows to derive one pre and one post-census estimate of expected LS widow(er)hoods.
Results
The total numbers of widow(er)hoods of LS members occurring after the 2001 Census are shown in Table 3.1 together with the relevant sampling fractions and linkage rates.
Table 3.1. Widow(er)hoods of LS members by year of death, 2001-2004
| Year of death | LS | E&W | Sampling
fraction |
Exp. in LS | Linkage
rate |
| Part 2001 | 1,371 | 137,132 | 1.00 | 1,502 | 91.28 |
| 2002 | 2,086 | 203,338 | 1.03 | 2,227 | 93.67 |
| 2003 | 2,139 | 203,314 | 1.05 | 2,227 | 96.05 |
| 2004 | 2,032 | 195,061 | 1.04 | 2,136 | 95.13 |
| Total | 7,628 | 738,845 | 1.03 | 8,092 | 94.27 |
The sampling fractions and linkage rates suggest that widow(er)hoods are under-represented in the LS. This result is expected to some extent, given the known limitations of the widow(er)hood linking method.
As shown in Table 3.2, linkage rates for widow(er)hoods have consistently improved since the inception of the LS. The linkage rate has increased from just over 77% in the first decade of the LS to just over 94% between 2001 and 2004.
Table 3.2. Widow(er)hoods of LS members by decade of death, 1971-2004
| Year of death | LS | E&W | Sampling
fraction |
Exp. in LS | Linkage
rate |
|
| 1971-1981 | 22,298 | 2,638,998 | 0.84 | 28,899 | 77.16 | |
| 1981-1991 | 22,099 | 2,428,372 | 0.91 | 26,595 | 83.09 | |
| 1991-2001 | 15,544 | 1,553,095 | 1.00 | 17,008 | 91.39 | |
| 2001-2004 | 7,628 | 738,845 | 1.03 | 8,092 | 94.27 | |
Separate sampling fractions and linkage rates for LS widows and widowers since 1971 are available the Downloads box.
