Living together in harmony?

David Martin
Deputy Director, UK Data Service
University of Southampton

Understanding households in
administrative data: definition and
estimation
13 March 2018
Living together in harmony?

• Census advice “Before you start”

• What is the census household definition?
• The importance of having something (else) in common
• It’s all about relationships
• Census household composition
• What makes a household?
• Groups of people in administrative data
• Some hard realities
• Matters for discussion
https://census.ukdataservice.ac.uk/use-data/censuses/forms

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Photos: David Martin

 https://census.ukdataservice.ac.uk/use-data/censuses/forms

What is the census household

definition? One person living
alone or…

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 http://www.stat.fi/til/asuolo/kas_en.html

What is the census household

definition? One person living
2011
alone or…
a group of people (not necessarily
related) living at the same address who
share cooking facilities and share a
living room or sitting room or dining area

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 https://census.ukdataservice.ac.uk/use-data/censuses/forms

What is the census household

definition? One person living
2011
alone or…
a group of people (not necessarily
related) living at the same address who
a group
share of people
cooking (not
facilities andnecessarily
share a related)
livingoratsitting
living room the same
roomaddress with
or dining common
area
housekeeping - sharing either a living room
2001 or sitting room, or at least one meal a day

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 https://census.ukdataservice.ac.uk/use-data/censuses/forms

What is the census household

definition? One person living
2011
alone or…
a group of people (not necessarily
related) living at the same address who
a group
share cookingof people (not
facilities andnecessarily
share a related)
livingoratsitting
living room the same
roomaddress with
or dining common
area
housekeeping - sharing either a living room
2001 A group of people not necessarily related,
or sitting room, or at least one meal a day
living at the same address with common
housekeeping, that is, sharing at least one
meal a day or sharing a living room or
sitting room 1991

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 https://census.ukdataservice.ac.uk/use-data/censuses/forms

What is the census household

definition? One person living
2011
alone or…
a group of people (not necessarily
related) living at the same address who
a group
share cookingof people (not
facilities andnecessarily
share a related)
livingoratsitting
living room the same
roomaddress with
or dining common
area
housekeeping - sharing either a living room
2001 A group of people not necessarily related,
or sitting room, or at least one meal a day
living at the same address with common
housekeeping, that is, sharing at least one
meal a day or sharing a living room or
sitting room
A group of persons (not necessarily 1991
related) living at the same address with
1981, common housekeeping
1971
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What is the census household
definition? One person living
alone or…

A group of people (not necessarily

related) living at the same address

1971-2011
With (variously) something
else in common!

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 What is the census household
definition? One person living
alone or…

A group of people (not necessarily

related) living at the same address

• This much we should be able to do pretty well from

admin data, so it all comes down to the concept
and measurement of “something else in common”
• (Results currently moderated by respondents’
interpretation of the secondary guidance phrase) 11
https://census.ukdataservice.ac.uk/use-data/censuses/forms

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It’s all about relationships…

Photos: David Martin

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https://census.ukdataservice.ac.uk/use-data/censuses/forms
How do we construct household
composition?
• Classification of households based on relationships
between the household members
• If one family and no other usual residents, classified
according to family type
• (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple family,
or lone parent family) and the number of dependent children
• Other households classified according to
• number of people, number of dependent children, or whether the
household consists only of students or only people aged 65 and
over
• Alternative classification defines households by age of
the household members, taking no account of the
relationships between them.
2011 census household composition
• One person household: • Cohabiting couple:
• Aged 65 and over • No children
• Other • One dependent child
• Two or more dependent
• One family only: children
• All aged 65 and over • All children non-dependent
• Married couple: • Lone parent:
• No children • One dependent child
• One dependent child • Two or more dependent
• Two or more dependent children
children • All children non-dependent
• All children non-dependent • Other household types:
• Same-sex civil partnership • With one dependent child
couple: • With two or more dependent
• No children children
• One dependent child • All full-time students
• Two or more dependent • All aged 65 and over
children • Other
• All children non-dependent
What makes a household?

• Although census is great, it offers neither a stable nor

unambiguous household definition
• The most consistent element is people living at the same
address, which we can probably still estimate
• What other “things in common” really matter and could
they be derived from admin data?
• Shared electricity meter?
• Common wheelie bin?
• Which are the key household statistics and how would
we obtain them without census households?
• Consequences for definitions of dwelling, communal
establishment, etc.
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Groups of people in administrative data

• Most administrative sources are about individuals

• Which relationships of interest are actually recorded?
• Parental relationships (esp. mothers) to children
• People linked together by financial activity (benefits and tax)
• People linked together by a common address
• Particular challenges of temporality – e.g. people who
live at the same address at different times (including
overlapping), but whose administrative records are
updated with differing degrees of lag

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 http://www.stat.fi/til/asuolo/kas_en.html

Possible new construct A: “household-

dwelling unit” (Statistics Finland)
• Consists of the permanent occupants of a dwelling
• Related concepts include: building, dwelling,
consumption unit, residential home, structure of
household-dwelling unit
• Concept adopted in 1980 census. In earlier years the
concept of household was used, which consisted of
family members and other persons living together who
made common provision for food
• But it is only a container, not a set of relationships
• Does not capture relationships beyond the address
(living together apart, multi-household individuals)
Some hard realities

• There are elements of current household definition and

composition that we cannot replace with current
administrative data
• There are aspects of contemporary living arrangements
which are not addressed by current household definition
AND which are not represented in contemporary
administrative data
• Routes into (and out) of partnerships and re-partnering
• New family/household forms
• Lives lived between multiple addresses (children, workers, etc.)
• Hidden households, sofa-surfers, non-household populations
Matters for discussion

• We need to admit that although census is great, it offers

neither a stable nor unambiguous household definition
• The most consistent element is people living at the same
address, which we can probably still estimate, but is only
a(n increasingly) partial reflection of living arrangements
• We need an updated conceptual framework covering
households and household-like relationship groups
• Not everything we want to observe is captured in current
administrative data sources
• Consequences for definitions of dwelling, communal
establishment, HMO, non-household populations, etc.

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 Photo: David Martin
Questions

Questions, discussion

[email protected]