Households

The results of the 2001 census show that household numbers are falling. More than a quarter of homes in the UK are owned outright by their occupiers, while almost another four in 10 are owned with the help of a mortgage or loan.

Almost a quarter (22.5 per cent) qualify as social housing, while 8 per cent are privately rented. By far the highest proportion of social housing exists in Scotland, where more than a quarter of all homes are owned by either a council or housing association.

The most popular type of home in the UK is semi-detached (more than 27 per cent of all homes), closely followed by detached, then terraced. Just over a fifth of all homes are flats or bedsits³ — but this figure varies dramatically in different parts of Britain.

In Scotland, a third of all homes are in purpose built blocks of flats or tene­ments, compared with just over 7 per cent of all homes in Northern Ireland.

As it would be expected, some of the UK's large cities have the highest propor­tion of flats and bedsits — 70 per cent in Glasgow, 69 per cent in inner London and 60 per cent in Edinburgh. Northern Ireland has the largest number of detached homes and bungalows — more than a third fall into this category. But at the same time 1.5 million households in the UK are overcrowded.

Family and Marriage

More than four in 10 people over the age of 16 in the UK are married, while another three in 10 describe themselves as single or never married. Another 8 per cent of people are divorced, while just over 8 per cent are widowed and 7 per cent have re-married. 30 per cent of familites have children. By far the highest proportion of single people — 50.1 per cent — can be found in inner London.

About 60 per cent of the population live as a couple — just over 50 per cent of these are married or re-married, while almost another 10 per cent are cohabiting⁴. Cohabiting has doubled since 1991. Of the four countries, England has the highest proportion of non-married cohabitees — 9.9 per cent, while Northern Ireland's fig­ure is significantly lower, at just 4.26 per cent. Northern Ireland also has the small­est number of divorcees — 4.1 per cent (a result of a strong influence of the Catholic Church), while Wales has the highest — 8.7 per cent.

Almost one in three families have children. Newham in London has the high­est proportion of children under five-years-old — just over 17 per cent. The social fabric of families is changing. Some 11 per cent of non-married couples have chil­dren and just over a fifth of households are lone-parents (usually a single mother), the 2001 census found.

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