Table 1

Distribution (%) of sociodemographic characteristics and self assessed health for the British household panel survey members (a) aged 21–59 in 1991 and (b) aged 21–59 in 1991 and surveyed in 2001

Description		1991		2001
Description		Men	Women	Men	Women
Current age (y)	21–25	12	13	0	0
	26–30	15	16	1	<1
	31–35	16	14	14	16
	36–40	13	13	19	20
	41–45	14	15	20	18
	46–50	12	12	17	16
	51–55	10	9	18	18
	56–59	7	7	12	12
Occupational class	Managerial and professional occupations	36	28	41	34
	Intermediate occupations	7	23	7	21
	Small employers and own account workers	15	6	15	7
	Lower supervisory and technical	16	7	13	6
	Semi-routine and routine occupations	27	36	24	33
Self assessed health	Excellent	35	29	28	22
	Good	45	47	47	48
	Fair	14	16	18	20
	Poor	4	6	6	7
	Very poor	2	2	1	2
Number		3229	3476	1666	2011