Households and families

People live in different types of households and families during their lifetime. Most begin life in the parental home and later they may set up home alone, with other non-related adults or by starting a family. Families are started when people form partnerships or marry, or when they have children. Understanding the distribution of the population by household and family type is important for many different organisations in the public and private sectors, including policy makers dealing with issues such as health, housing and benefits. Issues such as unemployment and poverty can often be better understood by looking at the characteristics of households and families. Information about households and families also shows how society is changing. This chapter provides the latest data on the number and composition of households and families in the UK and looks at trends over time.