How Does the U.s. Census Bureau Define a Family? Answers

1. Output information

National Statistic
Survey proper noun	The Labour Force Survey (Household dataset)
Frequency	Annual
How compiled	Sample-based survey
Geographic coverage	Britain
Sample size	Approximately forty,000 households per quarter
Last revised	2 March 2021

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2. Virtually this Quality and Methodology Information report

This quality and methodology report contains information on the quality characteristics of the information (including the European Statistical System 5 dimensions of quality) too as the methods used to create it.

The information in this report volition help yous to:

• empathise the strengths and limitations of the information
• learn virtually existing uses and users of the data
• understand the methods used to create the data
• decide suitable uses for the data
• reduce the risk of misusing data

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3. Important points

• The families and households estimates are produced using the April to June quarter of the Labour Strength Survey (LFS), a big-scale U.k. household survey nosotros comport out that interviews approximately 40,000 households per quarter.

• Most communal establishments are excluded from the LFS, with the exception of National Wellness Service accommodation; students in halls of residence whose parents alive in the Uk are included through the parental dwelling house.

• The families and households estimates are subject to sampling variation; the precision of the estimates depends on the sample size only for some smaller groups, such as civil partner couple families and aforementioned-sexual practice cohabiting couple families, the estimates are considered less precise and should be treated with more circumspection.

• The definition of a family in this release is a married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with or without children, or a lone parent with at least 1 child who lives at the aforementioned address.

• The definition of a household in this release is ane person living alone, or a group of people (non necessarily related) living at the same accost who share cooking facilities and share a living room, sitting room or dining area.

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4. Quality summary

Uses and users

An understanding of families and households is crucial for those involved in planning and decision-making. In addition, family unit and social relationships are one of the near important factors contributing to well-being.

The statistics are used by those who want to improve their understanding of the UK'southward families and households including:

• policy-makers

• MPs

• journalists

• charities

• the individual sector

• students

• researchers and academics

• members of the general public

Strengths and limitations

The main strengths of the families and households statistical bulletins include:

• these data provide users with valuable insight into the changing patterns of families and households back to 1996

• the survey estimates are sourced from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which provides robust and representative survey estimates used for labour marketplace, economic statistics and family and household statistics

• the use of survey estimates means that families statistics are adaptive to changes in legislation relating to legal marital status (for example, the introduction of civil partnerships and aforementioned-sexual practice marriages); however, small sample sizes may mean that it takes a number of years earlier information technology is possible to produce robust estimates at lower geographies or by other demographic characteristics such as age

• confidence intervals and an indication of the size of the coefficient of variation are presented around the survey component of the estimates to give users an indication of the reliability of the estimates

The master limitations of the families and households statistical bulletins include:

• the LFS is a study of employment circumstances in the UK, used to provide information on the Uk labour marketplace; therefore, its main function is not to provide data on demographics such as families and households

• the definitions used to depict families and households are constrained past the LFS and therefore a lot of the complexities of family and household formation cannot be explored; for example, families are constrained by the fact that they must all reside at the same address; more than information on the complexities of the families and households definition can be found in the explainer document

• the LFS does not include the 2% of the population living in communal establishments such equally prisons and nursing homes

• some demographic groups of the population, such as older people and those in same-sex activity unions, have small sample sizes within the LFS; then, estimates and trends are not ever robust plenty for meaningful commentary

Contempo improvements to the publication

Since our last National Statistics assessment we have made the following improvements to the publication:

• a breakup of married couple families into opposite-sex and same-sex (Table nine)

• an explainer document to back-trail the release from the August 2019 publication; this provides information around the complexities of families and households definitions and examples of families and households, and their categorisations

• calculation feedback links to our datasets then users tin can more than easily permit us know which tables are useful and what else they would like

In response to user requests:

• our November 2019 publication included Tables 1 and 7 at regional level for the first time, with further tables at regional level in this year's publication

• for this release we have expanded Table v to include household size of six, and seven and over people for years 2015 onwards, prior to this there was a six and over category

• in the November 2015 release we started including estimates of immature adults living with their parents

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v. Quality characteristics of the families and households data

Relevance

(The caste to which the statistical outputs see users' needs.)

The families and households tables published are:

• Tabular array ane: Families by family blazon and presence of children

• Tabular array two: People in families by family unit blazon and presence of children

• Table three: Families with dependent children past family type and number of dependent children

• Tabular array four: Dependent children in families by family unit type

• Tabular array 5: Households by size

• Table 6: People living alone by historic period and sex

• Table 7: Households by type of household and family

• Table eight: People in households by blazon of household and family unit

• Tabular array 9: Married couple families by blazon and presence of children

These tables are typically updated annually. The option to publish these tables was based on analysis of advertizement hoc requests by users of families and households data during 2010. It would be impossible to provide tables to run across all user needs, but the tables published aim to answer the most basic and common questions on the number of families in the UK by family unit blazon and the number of people in such families, including children. The tables too respond basic questions on the number of households in the UK, what types of family are living in these households and the number of people living in these households.

In response to user need for estimates of families and households at lower levels of geography, we accept increased the number of datasets published in 2019 and 2020.

In the 2019 dataset release we published two boosted datasets:

• Families by family blazon and presence of children for U.k. countries and English language regions
• Households past type of household and family unit for UK countries and English regions

In the 2020 dataset release we published the previous two datasets equally well as an boosted three datasets:

• People in families past family type and presence of children for UK countries and English language regions
• Households by size for Britain countries and English regions
• People in households by blazon of household and family for UK countries and English regions

We have incorporated feedback links into our published datasets for 2020 to gather more data on whether the tables published meet user needs.

Farther data most the strengths and limitations of other sources of information, which were considered when developing this output, are in Department seven Other information.

Accuracy and reliability

(The degree of closeness between an estimate and the true value.)

Equally estimates of the United kingdom'southward families and households are based on the Labour Force Survey (LFS), all estimates produced are subject area to sampling variability. This is because the sample selected is only one of a big number of possible samples that could accept been drawn from the population.

Samples are fatigued from the "small user" Postcode Accost File (PAF), which is a database of individual addresses in England, Wales and Scotland. These are addresses that receive fewer than 25 pieces of post per mean solar day. In Northern Ireland, Pointer, which is the government'southward central register of domestic backdrop, is used.

Estimates produced from a sample survey vary according to the specific characteristics of the respondents that have been sampled. Some inferences tin can exist made as to the characteristics of non-respondents and whether non-response has an impact on the quality of the survey results.

Sampling and not-sampling error, along with information on measuring error, tin can exist institute in the LFS QMI. LFS quality measures are also documented.

More detail on the quality balls carried out on the LFS data can be constitute in Section 6: Methods used to produce the families and households data.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has afflicted the data collection and weighting methodology of the LFS. Equally a result, all face-to-face interviewing for the Labour Strength Survey (LFS) was suspended and replaced with phone interviewing. This modify in the method for initial contact has inverse the non-response bias of the survey, affecting interviews from March 2020 onwards.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) responses are weighted to official population projections. As the electric current projections are 2018-based they incorporate demographic trends that pre-date the COVID-19 pandemic.

We continue to examine potential non-response bias and to analyse the population totals used in the weighting process and may brand adjustments if advisable. Rates published from the LFS remain robust; however, levels and changes in levels should be used with circumspection.

Further data tin can be constitute by following the links:

• Coronavirus and its impact on the LFS

• Measuring the labour market during the pandemic

• Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on Britain population

• The impact of the modify in weighting on main LFS indicators published in Oct 2020

To mitigate the impact of the alter in non-response bias, in October 2020, we introduced housing tenure into the LFS weighting methodology for periods from January to March 2020 onwards. For some very specific household types the affect of non-response bias may still be axiomatic. The data for ane person households aged 75 years and over particularly appear to nowadays an implausible reduction when compared with data for 2019. Nosotros recommend that users refer to the number of one-person households aged 65 years and over, which have been less affected by this event. In turn, this has contributed to there being no statistically significant change in the total number of households in the UK, in contrast with the overall trend for steady increase in household numbers in contempo years.

Coherence and comparability

(Coherence is the caste to which data that are derived from unlike sources or methods, but refer to the aforementioned topic, are similar. Comparability is the degree to which data can exist compared over time and domain, for example, geographic level.)

In that location are several other data sources, including administrative and survey data, that tin can exist used to provide estimates of families and households. These include demography data, registration data, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) benefits information, and other surveys such equally the English Housing Survey (EHS). More data on these other data sources for families and households tin exist found in the explainer.

Some mutual themes have emerged from previous assay into the differences between information sources, such every bit lower estimates of 1-person households in the Labour Strength Survey (LFS) compared with other non-survey sources, because of not-contact with one-person households in surveys. Surveys too more often than not provided higher estimates of civil partners than registration data, for a variety of possible reasons including people who take formed a ceremonious partnership exterior the UK, either before or afterwards civil partnerships became legal in the Uk in 2005. However, in general, estimates were found to be similar to the other sources, given the quite different drove methods.

In 2013, we undertook some initial comparisons with the results of the 2011 Census for families and households. The master findings from this comparison are in the 2013 statistical bulletin.

It may exist necessary to make hereafter revisions to the families and households estimates to reflect occasional or mail-demography revisions to the national mid-twelvemonth population estimates, which volition as well have an bear on on the weighting used for the LFS. This is in line with our revisions policies for population statistics.

Accessibility and clarity

(Accessibility is the ease with which users can admission the data, also reflecting the format in which the data are available and the availability of supporting information. Clarity refers to the quality and sufficiency of the release details, illustrations and accompanying advice.)

• The recommended format for accessible content is HTML5 for narrative, charts and graphs.

• Information should exist provided in open, reusable and machine-readable formats such equally CSV and ODF.

• An option to download or impress the content should be available.

In addition to this Quality and Methodology report, some quality and methods information is included in each statistical message.

For data regarding conditions of access to data, please refer to the following links:

• Terms and weather (for data on the website)
• Accessibility

Timeliness and punctuality

(Timeliness refers to the lapse of time between publication and the menstruation to which the data refer. Punctuality refers to the gap between planned and actual publication dates.)

Before publication of this output, estimates most the UK's families and households were published in an ad hoc manner in publications such as Focus on families and Social trends. Neither of these continues to exist published. The release described in this report provides important estimates of families and people in families, as well as households, and people in households. They are now updated annually, around five months after the cease of the Apr to June reference period.

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) datasets are reweighted periodically to take business relationship of the latest available population estimates and projections. This means that there are small revisions to previously published estimates.

The 2018 release of Families and households in the Uk was published in August 2019. This was delayed due to the re-weighting of the LFS data back to 2012. The impact of the reweighting on the 2012 to 2017 estimates is summarised in the impact of reweighting dataset.

The most recent release adds the 2020 estimates to the previously published 1996 to 2019 dataset. This release was delayed from its original November 2020 publication date because of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the data collection and weighting methodology of the LFS (see Accuracy and reliability section for further details).

For more details on related releases, the GOV.United kingdom statistics release calendar provides up to 12 months' notice of release dates. In the event of a alter to the pre-announced release schedule, public attention volition exist drawn to the change and the reasons for information technology explained fully at the same time, as set out in the Lawmaking of Practice for Statistics.

Concepts and definitions (including listing of changes to definitions)

(Concepts and definitions describe the legislation governing the output, and a description of the classifications used in the output.)

Definitions used in the output are detailed in this section. They are nationally agreed definitions and consistent with other sources of information (such as those used for the demography). No classifications are used in the output.

A family is a married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with or without children, or a lone parent with at least i kid who lives at the same accost. Children may be dependent or non-dependent.

Dependent children are those living with their parent(due south) and are either:

• aged under 16 years
• anile 16 to 18 years and are in full-time pedagogy, excluding children aged 16 to 18 years who accept a spouse, partner or child living in the household

Non-dependent children are those living with their parent(s) and are either:

• aged xix years or over and have no spouse, partner or child living in the household, or
• anile 16 to 18 years and are not in full-fourth dimension teaching and have no spouse, partner or child living in the household

Not-dependent children are sometimes called developed children.

For 1996 to 2010, a household is divers every bit a person living alone, or a group of people living at the same address who have the address as their merely or main residence and either share one primary meal a 24-hour interval or share living accommodation (or both). For 2011 onwards, it is divers as 1 person living lone, or a grouping of people (non necessarily related) living at the same accost who share cooking facilities and share a living room, sitting room or dining area.

To measure the impact of the introduction of the new household definition, we developed a set of questions to be asked by interviewers for each address they visited. Overall, merely two addresses out of 2,188 productive cases (less than 0.i% of interviewed households) would modify classification under the new household definition.

For more details on definitions and concepts used in the families and households publication please see the families and household statistics explainer.

Geography (including list of changes to boundaries)

Upwardly until 2018, families and households estimates were produced routinely by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) at the United kingdom level. In the 2019 and 2020 releases, in response to user demand, a subset of tables have also been produced for UK countries and English language regions.

Families and households estimates for lower-level geographies and culling aggregations may exist available on request. These requests may be chargeable depending on specific requirements.

Output quality

The original output objective was to provide summary statistics covering the most basic and commonly asked questions posed by users regarding families and households. This includes the number of families in the Britain, number of cohabiting couples and families with children.

Surveys such equally the Labour Forcefulness Survey (LFS) provide estimates of population characteristics rather than verbal measures. In principle, many random samples could exist drawn from the population and each would requite different results, since each sample would be made up of different people who would give different answers to the questions asked on the LFS. The spread of these results is the sampling variability, which by and large reduces with increasing sample size.

Confidence intervals tin can be used to present the sampling variability. A 95% confidence interval can be interpreted equally the interval within which 95 times out of 100, the true value will lie if the sample were repeated 100 times. Pragmatically, if you lot presume the conviction interval contains the truthful hateful, yous volition be wrong v% of the fourth dimension.

For users to gain an agreement of the level of accuracy of the families and households estimates, the estimates in the datasets are presented with confidence intervals and an indication of the size of the coefficient of variation (CV). The CV indicates the robustness of each gauge. This is calculated past dividing the estimate past the standard error.

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6. Methods used to produce the families and households data

How we collect the data, main data sources and accuracy

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a quarterly social survey of the resident population in private households in the UK. Information technology covers people in private households, NHS accommodation and students in halls of residence whose parents live in the UK. The main purpose of the survey is to provide information on the Great britain labour market, but it includes data on a variety of other variables such as marital condition and living arrangements. The survey does not comprehend the ii% of the population who alive in communal establishments such every bit prisons and nursing homes.

Each quarter's LFS sample is composed of approximately 40,000 households containing around 100,000 individuals. Families and households information are produced using the LFS household dataset. The household dataset ensures that the weight given to each member of the aforementioned household is the same, which differs from the person-level dataset.

The LFS household datasets are produced on a quarterly basis. Families and households estimates use the Apr to June quarter each yr equally this includes the mid-year point (30 June). Other publications, such every bit Population estimates past marital status and living arrangements and Families and the labour market, also utilize the April to June quarter of the LFS.

More data on the LFS can be found in the Labour Strength Survey user guide.

More detail on why the LFS was chosen as the best source of information to use for this publication can be found in Section 7 Other information.

How nosotros analyse and interpret the data

Weighted estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) are calculated for each year for the various families and households breakdowns; by union status and presence of children for family types and by size of household, family type and age for households (see tabular array breakup in Section five Quality characteristics of the families and households). The weighted estimates are of numbers of families and households and are provided at the Uk level, although some of these estimates are presented as proportions throughout the bulletin.

All estimates have been provided with conviction intervals and coefficients of variation. These quality measures provide users with sufficient information to judge whether the data are of sufficient quality for their intended use.

In addition to the main families and households dataset, nosotros likewise produce a young adults dataset. This dataset shows the estimates of 15- to 34-year-olds who live with their parents.

Same-sex marriages have but been legal in England and Wales since 13 March 2014, in Scotland since 16 December 2014 and in Northern Ireland from xiii January 2020 and therefore do not appear on whatsoever LFS datasets prior to 2015. In household datasets from 2015, we have flagged households with a aforementioned-sex union. We must ensure this flag has been practical correctly before calculating estimates for these families.

Estimates based on sample sizes of fewer than 3 are suppressed in published tables, but the tables accept been designed to minimise the need for suppression by combining age groups and categories when necessary. Suppression may be needed for small groups of people, such equally those in same-sexual practice marriages in the early on years following the introduction of this marital status.

Civil partnerships were kickoff granted for aforementioned-sex activity couples under the Civil Partnership Human action 2004. There have been contempo changes to civil partner legislation with the provision of reverse-sex activity civil partnerships in England and Wales from December 2019, shortly followed by Scotland in July 2020. In Northern Republic of ireland reverse-sex civil partnerships became legal with effect from Jan 2020. However, estimates for families and households containing couples in reverse-sex civil partnerships will not be available until sample sizes become large enough to produce robust estimates. This volition be reviewed annually.

Virtually estimates provided in the datasets are rounded to the nearest thousand and may differ from figures in the publication that are based on the unrounded estimates.

How we quality assure and validate the information

One time Labour Force Survey (LFS) household datasets are received for utilize in the publication, quality assurance is carried out on the about ordinarily used family and household type variables by tabulating one variable against another. The edit rules that are practical include verifying that:

• solitary parents do not have a partner in the household
• no children aged under xvi years are married
• nobody is in a civil partnership before 2005
• children are not heads of families
• same-sex union flag has been applied correctly

If any substantial failures are establish, these are referred to the Social Survey Division in the Function for National Statistics (ONS) for validation and correction. If failures are constitute for a very small number of cases, these are manually corrected by the Demographic Analysis Unit of measurement before estimates of families and households are published.

Aside from quality balls of the raw LFS data received, we also undertake quality assurance at all stages of the production procedure. Any errors or inconsistencies are documented and investigated, and the outcomes are captured to improve production processes in futurity years.

How we disseminate the information

Families and households estimates are available from 1996 to 2020 using information from the Labour Strength Survey (LFS).

Links from the GOV.UK statistics release calendar brand the release date and location of each new prepare of estimates clear. The estimates tin be downloaded complimentary of charge in Microsoft Excel format and are bachelor, alongside supporting documentation, from the families and households web page. A statistical bulletin accompanies each publication. The underlying data for the charts and tables in the bulletin tin can be downloaded. Please note for the 2020 release a headline bulletin rather than a full statistical bulletin has been published.

Most queries can be answered from the website datasets or supporting methods documents. Other information not published on the web may be available on request past emailing pop.info@ons.gov.united kingdom. These requests may be chargeable depending on specific requirements. Metadata describing the limitations of the information for more detailed tables are provided with each individual request. Whatever boosted enquires regarding the families and households estimates can be made past emailing pop.info@ons.gov.uk.

How we review and maintain the data

Future revisions to the families and households estimates may be required to reflect occasional or post-demography revisions to the national mid-year population estimates that bear on upon the weighting used for the Labour Force Survey (LFS). This is in line with the ONS revision policy for population statistics.

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7. Other information

Why the Labour Forcefulness Survey is used for this publication

The data are produced using the Labour Force Survey (LFS). When deciding the best source of data to use for the Families and households publication, we considered using the LFS, the Annual Population Survey (APS), the General Lifestyle Survey (GLF) and the Integrated Household Survey (IHS). Both the GLF and the IHS have since ceased production.

The APS combines results from the LFS and the English language, Welsh and Scottish LFS boosts. As such, the APS provides similar data to the LFS and has a larger sample size, and then information technology is more than commonly used for estimates for smaller geographical areas, such every bit local regime, than the LFS. The APS is available annually from 2004 onwards.

The GLF was a multipurpose continuous survey carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which collected information from people living in Groovy Great britain on a range of topics including households, families, marriage and cohabitation. The survey ran continuously between 1971 and 2011, when information technology finished. It had a smaller sample size than the LFS.

The IHS was a composite survey combining questions asked on a number of our social surveys to produce a dataset of "core" variables, including those on families and households. In 2009 to 2010, the IHS was created from vi of our surveys including the APS. After April 2011, the number of surveys contributing to the IHS dataset vicious, as two surveys could not continue request the cadre questions. The GLF finished at the finish of December 2011, and so the IHS comprised only of the Living Costs and Food Survey and APS. In February 2014, nosotros appear the result of a consultation that ceased the "core" questions being asked in the Living Costs and Food Survey. This effectively concluded the IHS as information technology at present consists only of the APS. The IHS had a larger sample size than the LFS but a shorter data time serial because data are only available from April 2009 onwards.

The surveys were originally evaluated confronting four principal factors to make up one's mind which i was the best source of data:

• timeliness
• sample size
• length of data time series
• consistency

The LFS was adamant every bit the most appropriate information source because information technology:

• was the timeliest, with the quarterly data existence available two to three months after the April to June reference engagement
• had a big sample size of approximately 40,000 households
• had the longest data time serial available of an ongoing survey (back to 1996)
• was conducted on a consistent basis across the United kingdom

It was decided that the LFS was the best information source because users were groovy to have a long data time series and the quality of estimates is robust at Uk level. Further, estimates of families and households produced from interviews in the April to June quarter are thought to be representative of the residue of the year.

Useful links

Families and households web page for links to:

• Datasets

• Statistical message

• Families and households statistics explained certificate

• Labour Force Survey user guidance

How to cite this document

Office for National Statistics. 2021. Families and households QMI [Online]. Titchfield: Office for National Statistics.

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Source: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/families/methodologies/familiesandhouseholdsqmi

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