Bedrooms of private dwelling

Status: This standard was approved as a departmental standard on May 17, 2010.

Definition

Bedrooms refers to rooms in a private dwelling that are designed mainly for sleeping purposes even if they are now used for other purposes, such as guest rooms and television rooms. Also included are rooms used as bedrooms now, even if they were not originally built as bedrooms, such as bedrooms in a finished basement. Bedrooms exclude rooms designed for another use during the day such as dining rooms and living rooms even if they may be used for sleeping purposes at night. By definition, one-room private dwellings such as bachelor or studio apartments have zero bedrooms.

Private dwelling refers to a separate set of living quarters with a private entrance either from outside the building or from a common hall, lobby, vestibule or stairway inside the building. The entrance to the dwelling must be one that can be used without passing through the living quarters of some other person or group of persons.

Conformity to relevant internationally recognized standards

This standard is generally compatible with, but more specific than the recommendations for censuses contained in the United Nations' "Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2", 2008. A bedroom is defined in the United Nations document as a room equipped with a bed and used for night rest. There are no specific instructions on (1) the inclusion of rooms designed as bedrooms but now used for something else or (2) how to count bedrooms in one-room private dwellings such as bachelor or studio apartments. The United Nations considers the number of bedrooms an additional topic for collection rather than a core topic for the census. No categorical classification is suggested.

This standard is also compatible with the discussion of bedrooms in the "Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing", 2006. These recommendations state that the number of bedrooms provides a useful indicator of overcrowding, especially where overcrowding is defined by reference to the number of bedrooms as well as the age, sex and relationships of members within the household. While no specific definition of bedrooms is provided, the recommendations do state that rooms which are used as household living space should not be included as bedrooms.

Measurements

• 'Bedrooms' is expressed as a number ranging from zero to the maximum number on the data file. May 17, 2010 to current

Classifications

• Classification of number of bedrooms May 17, 2010 to current

Relation to previous version

• Bedrooms of private dwelling May 17, 2010 to current

  This is the current standard.