Household composition
Definition
Household composition classifies households according to the relationship between the household members. Households consisting of one family and no other usual residents are classified according to the type of family (married, 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 66 (state pension age) and over.
Classification
Total number of categories 27
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | One person, Aged 66 and over |
| 2 | One person, Other |
| 3 | One family and no others, All aged 66 and over |
| 4 | Married couple family, No children |
| 5 | Married couple family, With one dependent child |
| 6 | Married couple family, With two or more dependent children |
| 7 | Married couple family, All children non dependent |
| 8 | Civil partnership couple family, No children |
| 9 | Civil partnership couple family, With one dependent child |
| 10 | Civil partnership couple family, With two or more dependent children |
| 11 | Civil partnership couple family, All children non dependent |
| 12 | Cohabiting couple family, No children |
| 13 | Cohabiting couple family, With one dependent child |
| 14 | Cohabiting couple family, With two or more dependent children |
| 15 | Cohabiting couple family, All children non dependent |
| 16 | Lone parent family With male head, With one dependent child |
| 17 | Lone parent family With male head, With two or more dependent children |
| 18 | Lone parent family With male head, All children non dependent |
| 19 | Lone parent family With female head, With one dependent child |
| 20 | Lone parent family With female head, With two or more dependent children |
| 21 | Lone parent family With female head, All children non dependent |
| 22 | Other household types, With one dependent child |
| 23 | Other household types, With two or more dependent children |
| 24 | Other household types, All in full-time education |
| 25 | Other household types, All aged 66 and over |
| 26 | Other |
| -5 | No code required - comprises household spaces with no usual residents. |
England & Wales and Scotland (2011) comparisons
This variable is broadly comparable to the variable created for Scotland's Census 2011. The pension age in Scotland has risen from 65 to 66 in the period between the 2011 and 2022 census collections, which is reflected in this updated variable.
An equivalent variable has been created by ONS for the England & Wales 2021 census using different age and family type breakdowns.
Definition
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 definition is used in most results from the 2011 Census. In a small number of results an alternative classification is used that defines households by the age of the household members. It takes no account of the relationships between them. In results where this different definition is used it is clearly indicated.
Classification
Total number of categories 27
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 01 | One person, Aged 65 and over |
| 02 | One person, Other |
| 03 | One family and no others, All aged 65 and over |
| 04 | Married couple family, No children |
| 05 | Married couple family, With one dependent child |
| 06 | Married couple family, With two or more dependent children |
| 07 | Married couple family, All children non dependent |
| 08 | Same-sex civil partnership couple family, No children |
| 09 | Same-sex civil partnership couple family, With one dependent child |
| 10 | Same-sex civil partnership couple family, With two or more dependent children |
| 11 | Same-sex civil partnership couple family, All children non dependent |
| 12 | Cohabiting couple family, No children |
| 13 | Cohabiting couple family, With one dependent child |
| 14 | Cohabiting couple family, With two or more dependent children |
| 15 | Cohabiting couple family, All children non dependent |
| 16 | Lone parent family With male head, With one dependent child |
| 17 | Lone parent family With male head, With two or more dependent children |
| 18 | Lone parent family With male head, All children non dependent |
| 19 | Lone parent family With female head, With one dependent child |
| 20 | Lone parent family With female head, With two or more dependent children |
| 21 | Lone parent family With female head, All children non dependent |
| 22 | Other household types, With one dependent child |
| 23 | Other household types, With two or more dependent children |
| 24 | Other household types, All in full-time education |
| 25 | Other household types, All aged 65 and over |
| 26 | Other |
| XX | No code required - comprises household spaces with no usual residents. |
Source question or variables
DPCHUK11 (Derived variable)
FAMSER (Derived variable)
FT1 (Derived variable)
FT2 (Derived variable)
GENINFAM (Derived variable)
PENPUK11 (Derived variable)
SIZHUK11 (Derived variable)
STUDENT (Primary variable)
TERMIND (Primary variable)
Scotland 2001 comparison
In order to allow comparisons to be made between 2001 and 2011 in the release 2C statistical bulletin, the statistics for 2001 were recalculated based on the 2011 definition of pensionable age (65 years old and over). The recalculated 2001 data are available as table A2 from the release 2C section of the downloadable files page.
Known Quality Issues
This variable relies on relationship data, which include some known quality issues. These are summarised on the Data Quality Issues Page.
Users should be aware that the numbers in different tables for similar categories of family type and household composition may differ depending on the base population of the table. For example, Table DC1118SC looks at all families in households and shows there are 291,081 lone parent families. Table DC1119SC looks at all households and shows there are 263,360 households comprising a lone parent family only, i.e. households with no non-family members present or which include more than two generations. In other words there are 27,721 lone parent families who were living in households where there were non-family members and/or more than two generations present, for example a grandmother living with her daughter (a lone parent) and her daughter’s children.
Definition
This derived variable describes the type of household. Note that, as for all other derived variables, the classification does not take account of students and schoolchildren living away from the family home during term-time.
Classification
Total number of categories 23
Not applicable category (XX) comprises: All household spaces with no residents
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 01 | One person: Pensionable age |
| 02 | One person: Other |
| 03 | One family and no others: All people of pensionable age |
| 04 | One family and no others: Married couple family: No children |
| 05 | One family and no others: Married couple family: With one dependent child |
| 06 | One family and no others: Married couple family: With two or more dependent children |
| 07 | One family and no others: Married couple family: All children non-dependent |
| 08 | One family and no others: Cohabiting couple family: No children |
| 09 | One family and no others: Cohabiting couple family: With one dependent child |
| 10 | One family and no others: Cohabiting couple family: With two or more dependent children |
| 11 | One family and no others: Cohabiting couple family: All children non-dependent |
| 12 | One family and no others: Lone parent family with male head: With one dependent child |
| 13 | One family and no others: Lone parent family with male head: With two or more dependent children |
| 14 | One family and no others: Lone parent family with male head: All children non-dependent |
| 15 | One family and no others: Lone parent family with female head: With one dependent child |
| 16 | One family and no others: Lone parent family with female head: With two or more dependent children |
| 17 | One family and no others: Lone parent family with female head: All children non-dependent |
| 18 | Other household types: With one dependent child |
| 19 | Other household types: With two or more dependent children |
| 20 | Other household types: All in full-time education |
| 21 | Other household types: All of pensionable age |
| 22 | Other household types: Other |
| XX | Not applicable |