Household type of private household

Status: This standard was approved as a departmental standard on May 26, 2021.

Definition

Household type refers to the differentiation of households on the basis of whether they are census family households or non-census-family households. Census family households are those that contain at least one census family. Non-census-family households are either one person living alone or a group of two or more persons who live together but do not constitute a census family. Census family households may be differentiated based on the presence of additional persons (that is, persons not in a census family).

Private 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 household universe is divided into two sub-universes on the basis of whether the household is occupying a collective dwelling or a private dwelling. The latter is a private household.

Conformity to relevant internationally recognized standards

This standard is compatible with the recommendations for censuses contained in the United Nations' "Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 3", 2017. The United Nations (UN) recommendations include the concept of 'family nucleus', which is identical to 'census family' in the Statistics Canada standards. The UN household type category called 'nuclear household' is identical to the category 'one-census-family household without additional persons' in the present standard. The detailed sub-categories of 'nuclear household' in the UN recommendations are not included in the present classification of Household type; however, they can be presented by crossing 'one-census-family household without additional persons' by the Statistics Canada classification for Census family structure. The category 'one person household' is the same in both the UN recommendations and the present standard. Unlike the UN recommendations, the present standard's classification for Household type does not include a category for 'extended households'; however, this concept can be obtained from Statistics Canada's standard concepts. Instead, the present standard distinguishes between multiple-census-family households and two or more person non-census-family households.

Classifications

• Classification of household type May 26, 2021 to current
• Classification of household type, multigenerational variant May 26, 2021 to current

Additional information

See:

• Census family
• Household living arrangements of person not in a census family
• Living in a family household (for person)

Relation to previous version

• Household type of private household May 26, 2021 to current

  The name of the concept has changed in French from 'genre' to 'type'. The definitions in the classification have been modified and a new classification variant has been created.

• Household type of private household March 24, 2016 to May 25, 2021

  This is an update of 'Type of household'. 'Household type' has replaced 'type' to allow for a more specific definition. 'Private household' has replaced 'household' as the statistical unit. The classification of household type has been modified.

• Type of private household September 11, 2013 to March 23, 2016
• Type of household April 16, 2012 to March 23, 2016

  This definition was updated on April 16, 2012.

• Type of household July 15, 1998 to April 15, 2012