Family households and those consisting only of adults with at least two people aged under 60 were the most likely to have entertainment items, home computers and telephones. The households least likely to have these items were older households and households consisting of one person aged under 60.

In 2000 for example:

• 83% of single person households aged under 60 and 61% of older single person households owned a video recorder compared with over 90% of all other types of household
• families and adult households aged under 60 were the most likely to have satellite, cable or digital TV (53% of small families, 57% of large families and 49% of adult households aged under 60 compared with 15% - 33% of all other households)
• families and adult households aged under 60 were the most likely to own a home computer (62% to 67% of these household types compared with 7% to 37% of all other households)
• families and adult households aged under 60 were the most likely to have access to the Internet at home (40% of small families, 46% of large families, 50% of adult households aged under 60 and 47% of large adult households compared with 4% to 29% of all other households)
• older households with adults aged 60 or over were the least likely to have a CD player (63% of older two person households, 34% of older single person households compared with 78% of younger single person households and 92-94% of other households)
• older households were the least likely to have a mobile phone (16% of older single person and 38% of older two person households compared with 57% of single person households aged under 60 and 75-80% of all other households).

Single person households, particularly where the householder was aged 60 or over, were less likely than other householders to own domestic appliances. In 2000:

• 77% of older and 85% of younger single person households had a washing machine compared with nearly all other households (97% to 99%)
• 69% of older and 75% of younger single person households had a microwave oven compared with between 81% to 92% of all other households
• 84-85% of single person households had a deep freezer compared with nearly all other households (96% to 100%)
• 32% of older and 39% of younger single person householders owned a tumble drier compared with at least half of all other households. The households most likely to own a tumble drier were large families (74%).