Overview of Families
Cohabiting is fastest growing family type
All families: by family type, 1996 and 2006, United Kingdom
In 1996 there were 16.5 million families in the UK. This increased to 17.1 million in 2006.
The proportion of married couple families has decreased over the last ten years, (accounting for 71 per cent of families in 2006, compared with 76 per cent in 1996). Over the same period the proportion of cohabiting couple families increased to 14 per cent from 9 per cent. The proportion of lone parent families increased by less than one per cent over this period.
In 2006, the average number of dependent children in a family was 1.8, compared with 2.0 in 1971. Married couple families were generally larger than other family types, with an average 1.8 dependent children in 2006, compared with 1.6 in cohabiting couple families, 1.7 in lone mother families and 1.4 in lone father families.
Comparing the four constituent countries of the UK, families in Northern Ireland are larger than elsewhere, and are more likely to contain dependent children. The 2001 Census showed that 25 per cent of families with dependent children in Northern Ireland had three or more dependent children compared with 18 per cent for the UK as a whole.
Age distribution by family type, United Kingdom
Family types vary considerably according to age. Generally, cohabiting couple families are much younger than married couple families. In 2001, half of cohabiting couple families in the UK were headed by a person aged under 35, compared with just over a tenth of married couple families.
Lone mother families tend to be younger than lone father families by approximately ten years. One third of lone mothers in the UK in 2001 were aged under 35, whereas fewer than one in ten lone fathers were under 35.
The most recent General Household Survey data for 2005 shows that 39 per cent of single individuals aged 25 to 34 were cohabiting. Although this proportion was lower for those aged 35 to 49, it was still 30 per cent. Similarly, the proportion of divorced men and women who were cohabiting was 47 per cent for those aged 25 to 34 and 41 per cent for those aged 35 to 49.
For women interviewed between 2001 and 2003, the proportion aged 25 to 29 who had cohabited before the age of 25 was 21 per cent. For their counterparts who were aged 55 to 59, the proportion who had cohabited before the age of 25 was just 1 per cent. Increasing cohabitation does not fully account for the decline in marriage as a smaller proportion of women aged 25 to 29 interviewed between 2001 and 2003 had formed any union, either married or cohabiting, before the age of 25. This suggests a delay in partnership formation for younger generations of women.
Source: Census 2001, Labour Force Survey spring 1996 and spring 2006, General Household Survey (GHS), Office for National Statistics; Census 2001, General Register Office for Scotland; Census 2001, Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency
Notes: A family is a married or cohabiting couple with or without child(ren) or a lone parent with child(ren).
Child(ren) may be dependent or non-dependent.
A dependent child is a child living with their parent(s) and aged under 16, or aged 16 to 18 in full-time education, excluding all children who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.
A non-dependent child is a child aged 16 or over living with their parent(s) who have no spouse, partner or child living in the household (excludes those aged 16 to 18 in full-time education).
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