Families and households in the UK: 2024

• There were 28.6 million households in the UK in 2024, 66.9% contained one family (a couple with or without children or a lone parent living with at least one child) and 29.5% contained a single person. 

• More people lived alone in 2024 (8.4 million) than in 2014 (7.6 million), and a larger proportion of them were aged 65 years or over (51.1% in 2024, 45.5% in 2014). 

• One third (33.7%) of men aged between 20 and 34 years lived with their parent(s) in 2024, compared with less than a quarter (22.1%) of women. 

• Married couples (with and without children) made up the largest proportion of families (65.1%), but this decreased from 67.1% in 2014, this is because of more couples living together without getting married. 

• Lone parent families were less likely to contain dependent children in 2024 (62.5%) than in 2014 (66.1%) as more lone parent families contain only adult children. 

• In 2024, 16.7% of lone parents were lone fathers, an increase from 13.1% in 2014.

There were an estimated 28.6 million households in the UK in 2024. This was a 7.0% increase from 26.7 million households in 2014. The increase was similar to UK population growth in the latest 10-year period with published data available (2013 to 2023), which is 6.4%. See our United Kingdom population mid-year estimate. 

This bulletin focuses on UK data. The accompanying datasets also show data for England, Scotland and Wales, as well as the regions of England. 

Household types

Figure 1: Most households contained either one family or one person

Household type as a percentage of all households, UK, 2024

Notes:

1. One-family households include households with one family and other individuals (related or unrelated), for example, a married couple living with a lodger.

The doughnut chart in Figure 1 shows that one-family households accounted for two in three (66.9%) UK households in 2024. Families include couples with and without children and lone parents who live with their children, including adult children.

In this bulletin, we use the term "adult children" to describe anyone who is considered a "non-dependent child". This refers to a person aged over 18 years who is living with their parent(s) and does not have a partner or child living with them. It also includes anyone aged 16 to 18 years who is not in full-time education and does not have a partner or child living with them. 

One-person households accounted for almost one in three households (29.5%). Very small proportions of households contained two or more unrelated adults (2.7%) or two or more families (0.9%).

Household size 

The average UK household size was 2.35 residents per household in 2024.

Living alone 

There were 8.4 million people living alone in the UK in 2024. This was an increase of 11.0% from 7.6 million in 2014. This equated to 12.5% of people living in households in 2024 and 11.9% in 2014. 

Age structure of people who live alone 

People aged 65 years or over accounted in full for the increase in people living alone in 2024 compared with 2014.

Figure 2. Half of people living alone were aged 65 years or over in 2024

Age distribution of people living alone, UK, 2014 and 2024

The comet plot in Figure 2 shows that around half (51.1%) of all people living alone in 2024 were aged 65 years or over, compared with 45.5% in 2014. This reflects a steady increase in the number of people aged 65 years or over living alone from 3.5 million in 2014 to 4.3 million in 2024. In contrast, the number living alone aged under 65 years was similar at both time points (4.1 million in 2014 and 2024). The increasing proportions of people living alone in older age groups reflects an ageing population. Read about the Profile of the older population living in England and Wales in 2021 and changes since 2011. 

A higher proportion of women aged 65 years or over in households lived alone (40.9%) than men of the same age (27.0%). The difference is partly because of higher life expectancy for women than for men. The proportion of men of this age living alone has increased from 21.9% in 2014 while there has been no significant change in the proportion of women of this age living alone.

Young adults living with their parents 

More young adults (3.6 million people aged 20 to 34 years) lived in a family with their parent(s) in 2024 than in 2014 (3.3 million), an increase of 9.9%.

The line chart in Figure 3 shows a higher proportion of young adults lived with their parents in 2024 than in 2014. Of people aged 20 to 34 years in households in 2024, 28.0% lived with parent(s), an increase from 25.6% in 2014.

The line chart in Figure 4 shows that for most ages young males were more likely to be living with parents than females. A third (33.7%) of men aged between 20 and 34 years lived with parents, compared with less than a quarter (22.1%) of women. 

More young adults living with their parents at older ages is part of trend of adults reaching milestones later in life. It may be explained by a number of factors including increased housing costs. Read more in our Milestones: journeying through modern life and More adults living with their parents.

Families

There were an estimated 19.7 million families in the UK in 2024. This is an increase of 5.7%, from 18.6 million in 2014. 

In this bulletin, we cover families living in households, which covers the vast majority of families. The survey data does not include families living in communal establishments, such as married couples living in care homes.

Figure 5: Married couple families were the most common family type in 2024

Percentage of families by type, UK, 2014 and 2024

Notes:

1. Married couple families include both opposite-sex married couples and same-sex married couples in 2024. Same-sex marriages have been available since 2014. 
2. Civil-partnered couple families include both opposite-sex and same-sex couples in 2024. Opposite-sex civil partnerships have been available since 2019. 
3. Totals do not sum to exactly 100% because of rounding.

The comet plot in Figure 5 shows that married couples made up 65.1% of families in 2024 (12.8 million). The proportion of families who were married couple families has reduced from 67.1% in 2014. This reflects a long-term trend of fewer couples getting married. Read about Marriages in England and Wales: 2021 and 2022. 

The vast majority (99.1%) of married couples were of the opposite sex, same-sex couples made up 0.9% of married couples in 2024. 

The number of cohabiting couple families in 2024 was 3.5 million (17.7% of all families), an increase from 3.1 million (16.4%) in 2014. In 2024, 95.8% of cohabiting couples were opposite sex. The proportion that were same-sex increased from 2.7% in 2014 to 4.2% in 2024. 

The percentage of families who were lone parents remained at 16.1% in 2014 (3 million) and 2024 (3.2 million).

Civil-partnered couple families accounted for 1.0% of families. The number of civil-partnered couple families more than trebled from 61,000 in 2014 (0.3% of families), to 200,000 in 2024. Opposite-sex couples have been able to form civil partnerships since 2019, see our Civil partnership formations data for England and Wales. 

Children living in families 

In 2024, 42.3% of families contained one or more dependent children, 15.4% had only adult children living with them and 42.2% had no children living with them. 

Of families with dependent children living with them, 44.3% contained one dependent child, 40.8% contained two and 14.8% contained three or more. 

Lone parents 

There were 3.2 million lone-parent families in 2024, an increase from 3.0 million in 2014. This increase was primarily in families headed by a lone father (an additional 136,000 families). The rise meant that lone-father families accounted for 16.7% (530,000) of all lone-parent families in 2024 compared with 13.1% (394,000) in 2014. 

While the number of lone-parent families increased between 2014 and 2024, the number with dependent children remained unchanged at 2.0 million. This resulted in a decrease in the proportion of lone-parent families containing dependent children, from 66.1% in 2014 to 62.5% in 2024. Lone-parent families which contained only adult children increased from 33.9% (or 1.0 million) in 2014 to 37.5% (or 1.2 million) of all lone-parent families in 2024.

Figure 6. Lone-parent families were more likely to be lone fathers with at least one dependent child in 2024 compared with 2014

Percentages of lone-parent families by sex of parent and type of child, UK, 2014 and 2024

Notes:

1. Totals do not sum to exactly 100% because of rounding.

The comet plot in Figure 6 shows that more than half (53.8%) of lone parents were lone mothers with at least one dependent child in 2024, although this is a smaller proportion than in 2014 (60.3%).

Lone fathers with dependent children made up 8.7% of lone parents in 2024, an increase from 5.7% in 2014. 

Just over half (52.3%) of lone-father families contained dependent children in 2024. This is higher than in 2014 (43.6%), but still lower than the proportion of lone mother families that contained dependent children in 2024 (64.5%).

Family 

A "family" is a married, civil-partnered, or cohabiting couple with or without children, or a lone parent with at least one child, who lives at the same address; children may be dependent or non-dependent. 

Children 

"Dependent children" are those living in families who are either aged under 16 years or aged 16 to 18 years and who are in full-time education, excluding children aged 16 to 18 years who have a partner or child living in the household. "Non-dependent children" are those living with their parent(s) and who are either aged 19 years or over and have no partner or child living in the household, or who are aged 16 to 18 years and are not in full-time education and have no partner or child living in the household. Non-dependent children are often called adult children. 

Household 

A "household" is (current definition, from 2011) one person living alone, or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room, sitting room or dining area. A household can consist of a single family, more than one family or no families in the case of a group of unrelated people. 

A "household" is (previous definition, from 1996 to 2010) a person living alone, or a group of people living at the same address who have the address as their only or main residence and either share one main meal a day or share living accommodation (or both). 

A helpful way to think of the relationship between families and households is to consider families as a subset or portion of a household, as more than one family can live in a household, with or without other individuals. 

One-family household 

A household type consisting of both couple households (with or without children) and lone-parent households. Households where there is one family and one individual (for example, a married couple with their daughter and a lodger, or a married couple with one elderly parent) are also classified as one-family households. 

Lone-parent family 

A family with a single male or female parent living with either dependent or non-dependent children. Note: The definition of a lone parent does not make any distinction between situations where a child has regular contact and/or partly resides with their other parent and a child who solely resides with and is cared for by one parent. Only the parent living with their children is included in the estimated number of lone-parent families and households. 

Multi-family household 

Households that consist of two or more families. The families can be unrelated (for example, two unrelated couples sharing a house); related and multi-generational (for example, cohabiting couple plus children and elderly parents, or married couple plus their daughter and her child); or related but not multi-generational (for example, cohabiting couple plus son and girlfriend, or two brothers and their partners sharing a house). 

For a full glossary and definitions, see our Families and households statistics explained and Families and households Quality and Methodology Information (QMI).

Labour Force Survey 

The families and households estimates are produced using the April to June quarter of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) (household dataset). This is a large-scale UK household survey we carry out that interviews approximately 40,000 households per quarter. Most communal establishments are excluded from the LFS, except for National Health Service accommodation. Students in halls of residence are included through the parental home. 

The response rates of the LFS have been lower in recent years than previously, resulting in a higher level of uncertainty in the estimates produced using this data source. 

Measures of quality, such as confidence intervals (to show the levels of uncertainty associated with survey estimates), are presented in the datasets. Users are advised to consult the quality measures when interpreting the estimates. 

Families and households methodology 

Quality and methodology information (QMI) on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Families and households QMI.

In this bulletin, we have made comparisons of 2024 estimates and/or percentages against earlier points in time and between different groups. Such comparisons are statistically significant. This means that there is likely to have been a real change and that the difference we are observing is unlikely to be a result of chance. 

We have rounded the estimates to at least the nearest 1000. Totals of estimates may not sum because of this rounding. We have used unrounded estimates to calculate percentages. In the bulletin, percentages are rounded to one decimal place. Totals of percentages may not sum to 100% because of rounding.

Census 2021 

The figures published from our regular families and households publications are likely to differ from Census 2021 for several reasons. Census data refer to a point in time whereas survey data are accumulated over a period of three months. Census is self-completed whereas surveys are interviewer-led. Census covers nearly all of the population with only a small amount of estimation, whereas surveys are weighted up from a sample to be representative.

UK household estimates 

We have published a user guide on household estimates and projections across the UK. This provides further detail on the coherence and comparability of household estimates across the UK. We no longer publish Labour Force Survey (LFS) based estimates of families and households for Northern Ireland. LFS-based estimates are still available for England, Scotland and Wales. These should be used when making comparisons with estimates for the UK as a whole, or across GB countries. 

The National Records of Scotland (NRS), the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) publish the official estimates of households for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively. These should be used when analysing household estimates at national and sub-national level.