Canadian Community Health Survey - Annual Component (CCHS)

Living arrangement of household, category

Living arrangement refers to the makeup of households in terms of adults and children.

Household is generally defined as being composed of a person or group of persons who co-reside in, or occupy, a dwelling. As in the case of dwellings, both collective and private households are identified.

Household refers to a person or group of persons who occupy the same dwelling and do not have a usual place of residence elsewhere in Canada or abroad. The dwelling may be either a collective dwelling or a private dwelling. The household may consist of a family group such as a census family, of two or more families sharing a dwelling, of a group of unrelated persons or of a person living alone. Household members who are temporarily absent on reference day are considered part of their usual household.

The household universe is divided into two sub-universes on the basis of whether or not the household is occupying a collective dwelling or a private dwelling. The former is identified as a collective household while the latter is a private household.

The data for this variable are reported using the following classifications and/or lists:

• Household living arrangements, extension variant for presence of children