There are estimated to be around 12.7 million married couple families in the United Kingdom as of 2023, with a further 3.3 million opposite-sex cohabiting couple family families, and 3.2 million lone parent families.

Families and children in the UK by family type including married couples, cohabiting couples and lone parents. Also shows household size and people living alone.

Presents recent estimates of the number of families by type, people in families by family type and children in families by type. Types of family include married couple families, cohabiting couple families and lone parent families. Tables on household size, household types and people in different household types are also provided. These include estimates of people living alone, multi-family households and households where members are all unrelated.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Families and Households

Dataset population: Persons in households

Household composition

Household composition classifies households according to the relationships between the household members. Households consisting of one family and no other usual residents are classified according to the type of family (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple family, or lone parent family) and the number of dependent children. Other households are classified by the number of people, the number of dependent children, or whether the household consists only of students or only of people aged 65 and over.

In Northern Ireland only:

• A dependent child is a person in a household aged 0 to 15 (whether or not in a family) or a person aged 16 to 18 who is a full-time student in a family with parent(s).
• A family consists of a couple (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting) with or without children, or a lone parent and their children. It also includes a married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple with their grandchildren or a lone grandparent with his or her grandchildren, if there is no parent in the intervening generation in the household. A family will also include step-children when their parent is part of the couple.

Dataset population: Persons in households

Age

Age is derived from the date of birth question and is a person's age at their last birthday, at 27 March 2011. Dates of birth that imply an age over 115 are treated as invalid and the person's age is imputed. Infants less than one year old are classified as 0 years of age.

Household composition

Household composition classifies households according to the relationships between the household members. Households consisting of one family and no other usual residents are classified according to the type of family (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple family, or lone parent family) and the number of dependent children. Other households are classified by the number of people, the number of dependent children, or whether the household consists only of students or only of people aged 65 and over.

In Northern Ireland only:

• A dependent child is a person in a household aged 0 to 15 (whether or not in a family) or a person aged 16 to 18 who is a full-time student in a family with parent(s).
• A family consists of a couple (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting) with or without children, or a lone parent and their children. It also includes a married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple with their grandchildren or a lone grandparent with his or her grandchildren, if there is no parent in the intervening generation in the household. A family will also include step-children when their parent is part of the couple.

Sex

The classification of a person as either male or female.

Dataset population: Households

Household composition

Household composition classifies households according to the relationships between the household members. Households consisting of one family and no other usual residents are classified according to the type of family (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple family, or lone parent family) and the number of dependent children. Other households are classified by the number of people, the number of dependent children, or whether the household consists only of students or only of people aged 65 and over.

In Northern Ireland only:

• A dependent child is a person in a household aged 0 to 15 (whether or not in a family) or a person aged 16 to 18 who is a full-time student in a family with parent(s).
• A family consists of a couple (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting) with or without children, or a lone parent and their children. It also includes a married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple with their grandchildren or a lone grandparent with his or her grandchildren, if there is no parent in the intervening generation in the household. A family will also include step-children when their parent is part of the couple.

Tenure

Tenure provides information about whether a household rents or owns the accommodation that it occupies and, if rented, combines this with information about the type of landlord who owns or manages the accommodation.

Occupancy rating (rooms)

Occupancy rating provides a measure of whether a household's accommodation is overcrowded or underoccupied. There are two measures of occupancy rating:

1. Based on the number of rooms in a household's accommodation
2. Based on the number of bedrooms in a household's accommodation

The ages of the household members and their relationships to each other are used to derive the number of rooms/bedrooms they require, based on a standard formula. The number of rooms/bedrooms required is subtracted from the number of rooms/bedrooms in the household's accommodation to obtain the occupancy rating. An occupancy rating of -1 implies that a household has one fewer room/bedroom than required, whereas +1 implies that they have one more room/bedroom than the standard requirement.

Step-families and blended families, dependent children living in step-families, and households where an additional child stays for more than 30 days a year.

Presents estimates of the number of stepfamilies and children in stepfamilies. This includes trends over time, differences between married and cohabiting couple stepfamilies, geographic patterns and information about family size.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Stepfamilies

Dataset population: Persons in households

Age

Age is derived from the date of birth question and is a person's age at their last birthday, at 27 March 2011. Dates of birth that imply an age over 115 are treated as invalid and the person's age is imputed. Infants less than one year old are classified as 0 years of age.

Household composition

Household composition classifies households according to the relationships between the household members. Households consisting of one family and no other usual residents are classified according to the type of family (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple family, or lone parent family) and the number of dependent children. Other households are classified by the number of people, the number of dependent children, or whether the household consists only of students or only of people aged 65 and over.

In Northern Ireland only:

• A dependent child is a person in a household aged 0 to 15 (whether or not in a family) or a person aged 16 to 18 who is a full-time student in a family with parent(s).
• A family consists of a couple (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting) with or without children, or a lone parent and their children. It also includes a married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple with their grandchildren or a lone grandparent with his or her grandchildren, if there is no parent in the intervening generation in the household. A family will also include step-children when their parent is part of the couple.

Sex

The classification of a person as either male or female.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates including measures of uncertainty of the number of families by specific family types, for regions of England and also Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This project used data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) (held at the Archive under GN 33196), to compile a consolidated marital, cohabitation and fertility file, containing retrospective lifetime histories and subsequent panel data related to respondents' partnerships and childbearing.

For the third edition (January 2011), updated data and documentation, covering BHPS waves up to 18, were deposited.

Dataset population: Households

Ethnic group of HRP

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.

The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.

Household composition

Household composition classifies households according to the relationships between the household members. Households consisting of one family and no other usual residents are classified according to the type of family (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple family, or lone parent family) and the number of dependent children. Other households are classified by the number of people, the number of dependent children, or whether the household consists only of students or only of people aged 65 and over.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify households in England and Wales by age of youngest dependent child and by household type. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Area type

Census 2021 statistics are published for a number of different geographies. These can be large, for example the whole of England, or small, for example an output area (OA), the lowest level of geography for which statistics are produced.

For higher levels of geography, more detailed statistics can be produced. When a lower level of geography is used, such as output areas (which have a minimum of 100 persons), the statistics produced have less detail. This is to protect the confidentiality of people and ensure that individuals or their characteristics cannot be identified.

Coverage

Census 2021 statistics are published for the whole of England and Wales. Data are also available in these geographic types:

• country - for example, Wales
• region - for example, London
• local authority - for example, Cornwall
• health area – for example, Clinical Commissioning Group
• statistical area - for example, MSOA or LSOA

Dependent children in household and their age

Classifies the number of dependent children in a household, by the age of the youngest child. The age of youngest dependent children is classified as follows:

• Aged 0 to 4 years
• Aged 5 to 9 years
• Aged 10 to 15 years
• Aged 16 to 18 years

Household type

Classifies households in an alternative way to the "household composition" classification used in most standard census results.

The type of family present classifies a household. However, households with more than one family are categorised using this priority order:

• married couple family
• civil partnership couple family
• cohabiting couple family
• lone parent family

Within a family type, a family with dependent children takes priority.

The alternative definitions used in tables that use this classification are:

• married couple household
• same-sex civil partnership couple household
• cohabiting couple household
• lone parent household

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This project explored the decline of the 'male breadwinner' model of the articulation of employment and family life, in which men were responsible for market work and women for unpaid caring. As women increasingly enter employment, has the gendered division of labour (understood as incorporating both paid and unpaid work) been shifted as a consequence and have gender relations within the family changed? Are women able to realise their individual aspirations, and has an increase in women's employment been followed by greater equality in money management between partners? As the work of caring is increasingly transferred out of the 'private' sphere, how have institutions, families and employers adapted to this new situation? Are adaptations in some countries more successful than in others?

In order to answer these questions, a cross-national comparative analysis was necessary. Thus, the project formed part of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) 2002 module, Family and Changing Gender Roles III. The module concerned included a series of questions relating to work-life conflict as well as attitudes to gender roles and working mothers, and the allocation of money within the household. Some extra questions were included in the ISSP project (fielded in Britain, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Norway and Portugal) and a resulting harmonised seven-country data set was generated. The ISSP is conducted by the Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Data Archive for the Social Sciences (GESIS), based in Cologne, Germany. The full ISSP Family and Changing Gender Roles III dataset is available to order via the UK Data Archive - see under SN 5018. It is recommended that users order the full dataset to use alongside this one.

In the case of Britain, a further set of questions were added to the ISSP module, and thus a separate file of extended British data is included in this dataset. The British questions focused on working conditions and individual promotion aspirations. They were piloted alongside the British Social Attitudes Survey, 2002 (BSA - held at the Archive under SN 4838), conducted by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).

Users should note that the documentation for this study includes only the questionnaire. Details of sampling and other methodology may be found in the documentation for the relevant BSA 2002 (see under SN 4838) and ISSP studies.

A previous study by the same principal investigator on a similar topic, Women's Employment and Family Life in the United Kingdom, Norway, France, Czech Republic and Russia, 1996-1997, is also held at the Archive under SN 3926. This study also used data from ISSP.

Main Topics:

Topics covered included: gender; age; educational background; working mothers and related issues; gender roles; household work; attitudes to marriage; cohabitation and children; family decision-making; income; attitudes to work; working conditions; quality of life; parental employment; religious belief; household and employment characteristics; employment history.

Dataset population: Households

Household type

Household type classifies households in an alternative way to the household composition classification that is used in most standard census results.

A household is classified by the type of family present, but households with more than one family are categorised in the priority order:

• Married couple family
• Same-sex civil partnership couple family
• Cohabiting couple family
• Lone parent family

Within a family type, a family with dependent children takes priority.

This means that in tables that use this classification the alternative definitions of married couple household, same-sex civil partnership couple household, cohabiting couple household and lone parent household are applicable.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents aged 16 years and over in households in England and Wales, by sexual orientation and family composition. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Some sub-populations have age and geographic profiles that may affect the relationships with other variables such as education, employment, health and housing. Take care when using this variable with others. We will publish more detailed commentary and guidance later this year. Read more about this quality notice.

Data about household relationships might not always look consistent with legal partnership status. This is because of complexity of living arrangements and the way people interpreted these questions. Take care when using these two variables together. Read more about this quality notice.

Area type

Census 2021 statistics are published for a number of different geographies. These can be large, for example the whole of England, or small, for example an output area (OA), the lowest level of geography for which statistics are produced.

For higher levels of geography, more detailed statistics can be produced. When a lower level of geography is used, such as output areas (which have a minimum of 100 persons), the statistics produced have less detail. This is to protect the confidentiality of people and ensure that individuals or their characteristics cannot be identified.

Coverage

Census 2021 statistics are published for the whole of England and Wales. Data are also available in these geographic types:

• country - for example, Wales
• region - for example, London
• local authority - for example, Cornwall
• health area – for example, Clinical Commissioning Group
• statistical area - for example, MSOA or LSOA

Sexual orientation

Classifies people according to the responses to the sexual orientation question. This question was voluntary and was only asked of people aged 16 years and over.

Household composition

Households according to the relationships between members.

One-family households are classified by:

• the number of dependent children
• family type (married, civil partnership or cohabiting couple family, or lone parent family)

Other households are classified by:

• the number of people
• the number of dependent children
• whether the household consists only of students or only of people aged 66 and over

Dataset population: Families in households/Dependent children in households

Dependent children in family

A dependent child is any person aged 0 to 15 in a household (whether or not in a family) or a person aged 16 to 18 who's in full-time education and living in a family with his or her parent(s) or grandparent(s). It does not include any people aged 16 to 18 who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.

A family is defined as a group of people who are a:

• Married, same-sex civil partnership, or cohabiting couple, with or without child(ren)
• Lone parent with child(ren)
• Married, same-sex civil partnership, or cohabiting couple with grandchild(ren) but with no children present from the intervening generation
• Single grandparent with grandchild(ren) but no children present from the intervening generation.

Children in couple families need not belong to both members of the couple. For single or couple grandparents with grandchildren present, the children of the grandparent(s) may also be present if they are not the parents or grandparents of the youngest generation present.

Dataset population: Households

Lone-parent households with dependent children where the lone parent is aged 16 to 74

In most tables, the term 'lone-parent household' is used to describe a household that comprises a lone parent family and no other person. In the alternative household type variable, a lone-parent household is defined as a household that contains at least one lone-parent family but does not contain any married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couples.

A count of the dependent children living in a household. A dependent child is a person aged 0 to 15 in a household (whether or not in a family) or aged 16 to 18 in full-time education and living in a family with his or her parent(s) or grandparent(s). It does not include any children who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents in households in England and Wales by household composition, and by age. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Data about household relationships might not always look consistent with legal partnership status. This is because of complexity of living arrangements and the way people interpreted these questions. Take care when using these two variables together. Read more about this quality notice.

Estimates for single year of age between ages 90 and 100+ are less reliable than other ages. Estimation and adjustment at these ages was based on the age range 90+ rather than five-year age bands. Read more about this quality notice.

Area type

Census 2021 statistics are published for a number of different geographies. These can be large, for example the whole of England, or small, for example an output area (OA), the lowest level of geography for which statistics are produced.

For higher levels of geography, more detailed statistics can be produced. When a lower level of geography is used, such as output areas (which have a minimum of 100 persons), the statistics produced have less detail. This is to protect the confidentiality of people and ensure that individuals or their characteristics cannot be identified.

Lower tier local authorities

Lower tier local authorities provide a range of local services. There are 309 lower tier local authorities in England made up of 181 non-metropolitan districts, 59 unitary authorities, 36 metropolitan districts and 33 London boroughs (including City of London). In Wales there are 22 local authorities made up of 22 unitary authorities.

Coverage

Census 2021 statistics are published for the whole of England and Wales. However, you can choose to filter areas by:

• country - for example, Wales
• region - for example, London
• local authority - for example, Cornwall
• health area – for example, Clinical Commissioning Group
• statistical area - for example, MSOA or LSOA

Household composition

Households according to the relationships between members.

One-family households are classified by:

• the number of dependent children
• family type (married, civil partnership or cohabiting couple family, or lone parent family)

Other households are classified by:

• the number of people
• the number of dependent children
• whether the household consists only of students or only of people aged 66 and over

Age

A person’s age on Census Day, 21 March 2021 in England and Wales. Infants aged under 1 year are classified as 0 years of age.