Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey (GSS) program has two main objectives: to provide immediate information on specific social policy issues of current or emerging interest and to gather data on social trends in order to monitor changes in the living conditions and well-being of Canadians over time. It is an annual cross-sectional household survey that has been conducted in all but two years since 1985. Twenty cycles of GSS have now been completed. Over the years, a wealth of data has been collected and many interesting results have been discovered and published. The GSS Twentieth Anniversary Project is designed to celebrate this wealth of information and provide data and tools to help researchers to analyze trends in Canadian society over the last twenty years.
Statistics Canada. General Social Surveys Division
Canada, provinces
Random digit dialing (RDD)
Statistics Canada
Computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI)
Data are available in the Statistics Canada Research Data Centres only. Documentation can be downloaded below.
University of Toronto faculty, students and staff. Data available by application to the Research Data Centre program only.