Household size

No significant differences were found in the size of different types of household. However male-headed households were far more likely to only contain a single person than other kinds. Only 10 per cent of female-headed households were composed of a single woman as opposed to nearly 25 per cent of male-headed households. When household size was measured in terms of adult equivalents (children under 15 = 0.5, adults = 1 ) the mean figures for household size were as follows:

The figure for female-headed households reflects the high levels of dependency that these households experience as has been discussed in the chapter on education and occupations. Female-headed households were found to be supporting more dependents for each working adult than other types of household.

Multi-household occupancy

There was more evidence of female-headed households sharing a dwelling with another household than there was in the case of male-or joint-headed households. While 22 per cent of female -headed households had only 1 household at the same address, this was true of 26.7 per cent of male- and 33 per cent of joint-headed.