• During the 30 years since the GHS began in 1971, there has been a clear downward trend in mean household size. Between 1971 and 1981 household size declined steadily from 2.91 in 1971 to 2.70 in 1981. The decline continued throughout the next decade, falling to 2.48 by 1991. Since then household size has continued to fall, though at a slower rate, to 2.33 in 2001, representing no statistically significant change since 2000. 
• Just over three in ten households contained one person only* (31%), while a little over a third contained two people (34%) and 35% consisted of three or more people.
• Just over a quarter of households (27%) included children aged under 16, which was similar to the 26% found in 2000 but considerably less than 30 years ago, when households containing children were almost two fifths (39%) of the total.
• In 2001 30% of households comprised one or two adults aged 60 or over.

*The introduction of weighting for non-response has had an important effect on the proportion of one-person households. This effect suggests that the increase seen over time has been slightly underestimated in the past.