A reflection of four decades of social reporting in the UK is the underlying theme of this year's Social Trends as it celebrates its 40th year in 2010. To mark this anniversary, Social Trends is publishing the population, household and families, labour market, and housing chapters online earlier than usual. In this first wave, these four chapters highlight some of the main demographic changes over the last 40 years.

The size and age structure of the population is essential in understanding aspects of society, such as the labour market and household composition. Over the last 40 years, the proportion of people living in one person households and lone parent households have both increased, reflecting changes over time in attitudes to marriage, divorce and childbearing. Over the same period the composition of the labour market has been changing: employment and unemployment rates have fluctuated, reflecting changes in the economic cycle. There have also been some notable changes in people's living situations: from who they live with, to the type of homes they live in.

We plan to publish two more chapters in February 2010, and April 2010, and the remaining five will be published on the website in June 2010, supported by a printed publication of all 13 chapters, forming Social Trends 40. The Social Trends branch is committed to keeping readers informed about our future proposals for Social Trends reporting, and updates will be published on the Social Trends homepage soon.

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