Data Resource Profile: Ungdata—National Norwegian Youth Surveys

Ungdata is an ongoing national large-scale survey among youth in Norway, designed to provide insights into adolescents’ lives. Established in 2010 and, by 2025, almost 1.2 million responses among >900 000 youth (aged 13–19 years) had been collected, covering students in lower-secondary schools and upper-secondary schools. Students complete the survey during school hours by using a web-based platform. The questionnaire covers a wide range of topics, including physical and mental health, well-being, substance use, leisure activities, and school-related issues. Ungdata operates as a series of standardized local-level surveys commissioned by individual municipalities. These surveys are subsequently merged into a national database to support broader research and monitoring efforts. The data are widely used for public health monitoring, policy development, and scientific research. They support both local authorities and national decision makers in improving youth well-being and addressing key challenges faced by adolescents. National and local reports, interactive online tools, analysis files, and datasets are accessible via sikt.no, Ungdata.no, or by contacting [email protected]. The Ungdata survey was established in 2010 as a national data-collection scheme designed to conduct youth surveys at the municipal level across Norway [1]. As of 2025, >900 000 youth (aged 13–19 years) from nearly all Norwegian municipalities had answered the survey, covering students in both lower- and upper-secondary schools [2]. The survey captures a broad range of topics relevant to adolescent life, including physical and mental health, substance use, relationships with parents and peers, leisure activities, well-being, and school-related issues. The data are used at both municipal and national levels to inform public health initiatives and policy development. Ungdata is administered as a web-based questionnaire conducted during school hours. Although implemented within schools, the survey is fundamentally a municipal initiative: each municipality commissions its own survey to obtain locally relevant data. These local datasets are subsequently merged into a national database. This structure enables both local-level insights and national-level research and monitoring, as the survey is designed as a repeated cross-sectional study. Norwegian Social Research (NOVA)—a research institute at Oslo Metropolitan University—is responsible for national coordination, while the regional Drug and Alcohol Competence Centres (KORUS) oversee the implementation of surveys at the local level. The development of Ungdata has been supported by the Norwegian Directorate of Health, the Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, and the Ministry of Education and Research. Since 2015, the survey has been fully financed through the Norwegian national budget and is free of charge to the municipalities. Although Ungdata is conducted annually, most municipalities participate approximately every third year. This approach ensures that students are typically surveyed once during lower-secondary school and once during upper-secondary school. Between 2010 and 2025, the dataset developed into a comprehensive resource on adolescents in Norway, enabling cross-sectional comparisons across time and geographic regions. The scope of Ungdata has expanded with supplementary surveys, including Ungdata Plus [3], a longitudinal study linking responses to register data for long-term studies, and Ungdata Junior [4], tailored for upper-primary-school students. Ungdata is expected to continue collecting data on Norwegian youth into the foreseeable future. Several measures have been implemented to safeguard student privacy and well-being, and the study adheres to the ethical guidelines established by the Norwegian National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Participants receive both oral and written information outlining the purpose and content of the survey, emphasizing that participation is voluntary, that no names or personal identification numbers are collected, that any question can be skipped, and that participation can be withdrawn at any time for any reason. Students are also informed that consent to participate is given by completing the questionnaire. While most students find the questionnaire unproblematic, some may perceive certain topics as sensitive. The survey is not designed to identify individuals, nor can it be used as a platform for students to request help directly. To address this, participants are informed—both before and after completing the survey—that they can contact the school health service or the national helpline operated by the Norwegian Red Cross if they wish to speak with an adult. The school health service is notified in advance and prepared to provide support should students seek assistance. Ungdata is organized through a tiered structure involving coordination at national, regional, municipal, school, and classroom levels. At the national level, the Ungdata Centre at NOVA is responsible for overall coordination, legal aspects and ethics, the development of survey instruments, data sharing, and data infrastructure, while the KORUS centers are responsible for facilitating implementation in individual municipalities and supporting local adaptation, logistics, and the dissemination of results. Participation in the survey is organized at the municipal level. In practice, the process has become standardized, with most municipalities participating every third year in coordination with other municipalities within the same county or region. This cyclical approach facilitates consistent comparisons over time and improves survey implementation by enabling better coordination and follow-up by the regional KORUS centers. By 2025, 353 of Norway’s 357 municipalities had participated at least once, with most municipalities having participated multiple times. Within each municipality, schools are responsible for administering the survey to students. A designated contact person at each school manages the logistics and ensures that the survey is conducted in accordance with standard procedures. Teachers or school staff then assist in administering the questionnaire at the classroom level, ensuring that students receive the necessary information and technical support during the session. Students complete the survey individually by using a digital questionnaire accessed via a computer or tablet. Prior to participation, both the students and their guardians are provided with information about the purpose, content, and voluntary nature of the survey. Students are explicitly informed that they may withdraw at any time or skip any questions that they do not wish to answer. The questionnaire is available in Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk), English, and Northern Sami. Several measures, including a text-to-speech function, are integrated to support participants with reading difficulties or other accessibility needs to participate [5]. Ungdata is a population-based survey rather than a sample survey, estimated by including two-thirds of all 10- to 19-year-olds in Norway. This census-like approach aims to include the entire target population within each municipality, offering a comprehensive overview of young people’s everyday lives, well-being, and challenges at the local level. By the end of 2025, nearly 1.2 million Ungdata responses had been registered. As some individuals participated more than once and responses cannot be linked to specific individuals, the exact number of unique participants is unknown. However, it is estimated that ≥900 000 Norwegian adolescents have taken part in the survey. The overall response rate across all years is 78.3%. Table 1 highlights some year-to-year variations, including a lower response rate in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these fluctuations, the response rate has remained relatively stable over the 15-year period. Participation in the Ungdata survey 2010–25: number of participants and response rates. Non-participation among students occurs for several reasons. One group consists of students who actively opt out of participation, either by their own choice or through withdrawal by their guardians. Another group includes students who are not given the opportunity to participate due to practical constraints, such as when schools or municipalities are unable to implement the survey across all schools, classes, or grade levels. Similarly, students who are unable to participate due to language barriers or cognitive limitations are exempted. A third group comprises students who are absent during the data-collection period. There is currently no systematic knowledge about how non-participants differ from participants, e.g. in terms of socioeconomic background. Response rates vary across municipalities and are influenced by the quality of the local survey organization and implementation. Participation is generally higher in lower-secondary schools (82%) compared with upper-secondary schools (68%) and is typically higher in the first year of upper-secondary school than in the third and final years. This is partly due to logistical challenges in reaching older students and partly because dropout rates increase as students approach the end of upper-secondary education. Consequently, data from older age groups represent a more selective population. To understand participants’ perceptions, the questionnaire includes questions at the end assessing their experience, with results reported in Table 2. Nearly 9 out of 10 students feel that the survey reflects their lives accurately and a similar proportion find the questions easy to answer. Additionally, 97% reported answering honestly, suggesting that the survey is viewed as both relevant and accessible. On average, students spend 24 minutes completing the survey (SD = 9.1 minutes). Survey evaluation by respondents (percentage of respondents who strongly or somewhat agree). The Ungdata questionnaire consists of two main components: a mandatory core module and a set of optional modules. The core module includes ∼150 standardized items that are administered across all participating municipalities. This standardization enables consistent national and regional comparisons over time. At the lower-secondary level, the survey includes fewer background variables compared with that for upper-secondary schools. In addition to the core module, municipalities can select from a range of optional modules that are organized thematically. These optional sections provide more detailed questions on specific topics introduced in the core module, enabling local authorities to tailor the survey to their interests and needs. A maximum limit of 70 items is set for the optional modules. The questionnaire is typically revised every third year to ensure that its content remains relevant and reflects current trends and issues in young people’s lives. Revisions generally consist of minor updates to preserve data comparability over time. The questions and topics covered in the mandatory core module of the questionnaire are listed in Table 3. Survey questions and items in Ungdata core module 2024–6. Has another young person hit, kicked, shaken you hard, slapped you or done something similar? Has another young person threatened, attacked, or robbed you using objects or weapons? Has an adult in your family intentionally hit you? Have you seen or heard an adult in your family being hit, kicked, shaken hard, or slapped by another adult in the family? Only for lower-secondary schools. Only for upper-secondary schools. Ungdata plays a central role in national health monitoring in Norway. It is a key component of the ‘Folkehelseprofiler’ (Public Health Profiles) and ‘Oppvekstprofiler’ (Child and Youth Well-being Profiles), which are published annually by the Norwegian Directorate of Health [6]. Additionally, a national report that summarizes key findings from Ungdata is released each year, contributing to the public discourse on youth-related issues and informing policy development [2]. Municipalities and individual schools receive tailored reports, which are used for local planning and policy development. These reports are actively utilized by local authorities, with support from the regional KORUS centers, as a tool for identifying priority areas in youth well-being and guiding local public health interventions. The data also provide a foundation for engaging young people in participatory planning and local decision-making processes. In the research community, Ungdata is widely used in the fields of public health [7], epidemiology [8], sociology [9], psychology [10], youth studies [11], and criminology [12]. As of August 2025, >100 peer-reviewed scientific publications based on Ungdata had been published in national and international journals. Key areas of research include physical [13] and mental health [14], substance use [15], behavioral risk factors [16], and participation in leisure activities [17] and organized sports [18]. The dataset is also a valuable resource for graduate students and PhD candidates, supporting a range of thesis and dissertation projects. An overview of the book chapters, scientific articles, national and local reports, as well as master’s and doctoral theses, is available at https://www.ungdata.no/publikasjoner/. Ungdata’s primary strength lies in its robust infrastructure for systematically collecting data on adolescents across nearly all Norwegian municipalities and over time. Its design enables the direct involvement of local authorities while contributing to a unified national database suitable for research. The survey’s structure supports high response rates and broad coverage across demographic and geographic groups. The standardized core module ensures comparability across time and place, while the optional modules provide flexibility for local customization without compromising the overall coherence. Ungdata’s integration into planning processes and health surveillance promotes local ownership and increases the likelihood that the data will be utilized effectively. Its widespread use by practitioners, researchers, and students highlights both the accessibility and the perceived value of this resource. Nevertheless, there are important limitations. The sample consists exclusively of students enrolled in school, meaning that young people who are not participating in formal education, particularly at the upper-secondary level, are excluded. This limits the representativeness of the data for certain age groups and social categories, especially those most at risk. Additionally, as with all self-reported data, responses may be influenced by social desirability bias or inaccuracies in recall. For research purposes, the ability to link individual responses to registry data and track participants over time would be highly beneficial. However, this is not feasible, as no direct personal data are collected. Another limitation concerns the structure and representativeness of the survey’s optional modules. While >90% of respondents complete the core module, fewer respondents consistently answer the questions found at the end of the survey, where the optional modules are typically located. This results in higher rates of missing data for these modules and questions at the end of the core module. Furthermore, as the optional modules are selected at the discretion of municipalities, the data they generate are not nationally representative, as not all regions include the same custom questions. Finally, participation among municipalities generally occurs only every 3 years. As a result, creating a national sample requires merging data from the past three survey cycles to ensure full geographic coverage. National- and municipal-level reports as well as an interactive map interface are freely available at www.ungdata.no. For public use, a simplified analysis file is available through the Norwegian Survey Bank. This file is accessible to anyone via https://doi.org/10.18712/NSD-NSD3157-V1 and allows users to perform basic cross-tabulations on selected variables from the core module. Researchers and students affiliated with Norwegian universities have extended access through the same platform, including the ability to download a full dataset containing all variables from the core module and selected metadata (e.g. year, region, school level). The file is formatted for use in statistical software packages commonly used in the social sciences. For bona fide international researchers, the dataset is available for research purposes and can be requested by contacting the Ungdata team at NOVA via e-mail ([email protected]). Applications are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and must comply with data-protection regulations and ethical guidelines. The Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REK) have determined that Ungdata does not qualify as a health research project. Consequently, it has not been subject to the formal ethical approval process mandated by Norwegian law for medical and health research projects. As the survey at the lower-secondary-school level is completely anonymous, it is also exempt from assessment by the Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (SIKT). At the upper-secondary-school level, Ungdata includes additional background questions. This component was reviewed by SIKT. A data-protection impact assessment has been developed and is publicly available. Moreover, the Norwegian National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities has deemed the use of passive parental consent in the Ungdata surveys ethically acceptable, provided that parents are adequately informed and given the opportunity to opt out [19]. We extend our gratitude to all the young people who participated in Ungdata, as well as to everyone involved in the data-collection process, including staff at schools, municipalities, and county authorities. We also wish to thank our partners at the regional Drug and Alcohol Competence Centres (KORUS) for their invaluable support. Finally, we want to thank everyone who has contributed to Ungdata at NOVA over the years. S.E.J. drafted the paper. A.B. has led the development of the data resource since 2010. A.B. and R.T.E. reviewed the paper and produced the tables. All authors reviewed and approved the final submitted paper. None declared. The Norwegian Directorate of Health provides funding for Ungdata via the national budget. See “Data resource access,” above. SIKT KI (a Norwegian national platform for the safe use of AI in research and education) was used to support the English writing and grammar.