Tma_3

TMA 03 Part 1 What do the tables show about the composition of households in Great Britain' Within this part of the assignment I will be looking at data provided in the form of two tables, the data given is on the composition of households in Great Britain over a thirty eight year period. The first table gives data of people in households by the type of household and the family, and the second table the data is given by size. Table 1 shows that one person households doubled from 6% to 12% during 1971 to 2001, in volume of people that was an increase of 3.2 million people to 7 million, another prominent variation is that of dependent children where 1971 saw 52% of coupled households with dependent children, it then dropped steadily to 2008 to 36%, a difference of sixteen percent. Adding together the dependent and non-dependent children of coupled households shows consistent decreases over the thirty eight years, yet for the same period lone parents with dependent and non-dependent children saw a reverse and steadily increased from 4% in 1971 to 11% in 2008. Table 2 also shows that in 1971 the percentage of one person households was at 18% which increased by 2001 to 29%, this in volume of people is 3.3 million living in one person households in 1971, and 2001 was 7.2 million residing on their own, this works out very similar to the figures given in Table 1, although their percentages are rather different. Three, four, five, and six or more person households all show for the same period of 1971 to 2001 a steady decrease, assuming that these Table 2 categories are inclusive of children would then show similarities of Table 1. Table 1 shows an increase of 5.4 million people from 1971 to 2008 of all persons in private households, whereas Table 2 for the same period shows an increase 6.4 million so they seem to not be too dissimilar, even though the quantity of people has increased the average number of people to a household has decreased. In 1971 the average persons per household was 2.9 persons this decreased by 2008 to 2.4 persons per household. The most obvious similarity between the two tables is that in the vast majority of the categorised figures from 2001 to 2008 remained static, for those that did move their percentage increase/decrease was by only 1%, this shows both sets of data acquired similar findings on collection of the figures. To summarise on the evidence of the Tables it seems the main patterns are that larger families or more people residing together has been over time in decrease and those living on their own has increased, however in both instances for the final seven years of figures presented there has been neither a decrease or increase. Word count: 474 Bibliography Assignment Booklet 2012E, (ONS), Social Trends, vol. 39, (2011), Milton Keynes, The Open University. Assignment Booklet 2012E, (ONS), Social Trends, vol. 41, (2011), Milton Keynes, The Open University.