A statistical bulletin presented annual statistics on trends in families and households. The number of opposite-sex cohabiting couples had increased from 1.5 million in 1996 to 2.9 million in 2012; and the number of dependent children living in these families had doubled from 0.9 million to 1.8 million in the same period. The most common family type in 2012 was a married or civil partner couple without dependent children, accounting for 7.6 million out of a total of 18.2 million families in the United Kingdom. The second most common family type was a married or civil partner couple with dependent children, of which there were 4.6 million.
Source: Families and Households, 2012, Office for National Statistics
Links: Bulletin | Short report (cohabitation) | ONS press release | Marriage Foundation press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined why adult children and their parents lived together in European countries, and the role of individual characteristics, family structures, and cultural contexts. Country comparisons showed that welfare state arrangements also had a substantial effect. Co-residence appeared to be a response to economic insecurities at both individual and societal levels.
Source: Bettina Isengard and Marc Szydlik, 'Living apart (or) together? Coresidence of elderly parents and their adult children in Europe', Research on Ageing, Volume 34 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
A paper introduced a collection of studies on how various dimensions of employment uncertainty, such as temporary working contracts and individual and aggregate unemployment, were related to the fertility and family formation of women and men in contexts across Europe.
Source: Michaela Kreyenfeld, Gunnar Andersson, and Ariane Pailhe, Economic Uncertainty and Family Dynamics in Europe, Working Paper 2012-006, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Rostock, Germany)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Feb
A bulletin presented annual statistics for the United Kingdom on the number of families by type, people in families by family type, and children in families by type. In 2011 there were 17.9 million families: of these, 12.0 million consisted of a married couple with or without children. The number of opposite sex cohabiting couple families had increased significantly, from 2.1 million in 2001 to 2.9 million in 2011. In 2011, 38 per cent of married couple families had dependent children, the same percentage as cohabiting couple families. There were 2.0 million lone parents with dependent children in 2011, compared with 1.7 million in 2001 There were 26.3 million households in 2011: of these, 29 per cent consisted of only one person and almost 20 per cent consisted of 4 or more people.
Source: Families and Households, 2001 to 2011, Office for National Statistics
Links: Bulletin | ONS press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Jan
A paper provided a brief guide to sources of data on families and households, including the Labour Force Survey.
Source: Comparing Data Sources on Families and Households, Office for National Statistics
Links: Briefing
Date: 2012-Jan