Mnemonic: adult_lifestage
Applicability: Person
Type: Derived variable
Definition
Classifies people in households by age, whether dependent children are in the household, age of the youngest child and the number of people in the household.
The specific categorisation used depends on the person’s age.
Classification
Total number of categories: 12
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Aged 16 to 34 years: No dependent children in household |
| 2 | Aged 16 to 34 years: Dependent children in household |
| 3 | Aged 35 to 54 years: No dependent children in household |
| 4 | Aged 35 to 54 years: Youngest dependent child in household aged 0 to 4 years |
| 5 | Aged 35 to 54 years: Youngest dependent child in household aged 5 to 10 years |
| 6 | Aged 35 to 54 years: Youngest dependent child in household aged 11 to 15 years |
| 7 | Aged 35 to 54 years: Youngest dependent child in household aged 16 to 18 years |
| 8 | Aged 55 to 64 years: One-person household |
| 9 | Aged 55 to 64 years: Two or more people in household: No dependent children in household |
| 10 | Aged 55 to 64 years: Two or more people in household: Dependent children in household |
| 11 | Aged 65 years and over: One or more people in household |
| -8 | Does not apply* |
*Students and schoolchildren living away during term-time, short-term migrants, people living in communal establishments, and people aged 15 years and under.
View all adult lifestage classifications.
Background
Read about how we developed and tested the questions for Census 2021.
Comparability with the 2011 Census
Highly comparable
What does highly comparable mean?
A variable that is highly comparable means that it can be directly compared with the variable from the 2011 Census. The questions and options that people could choose from may be slightly different, for example the order of the options may be swapped around, but the data collected is the same.
England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland comparisons
Broadly comparable
The variable produced for England and Wales uses different age bands to the variables produced by Scotland and Northern Ireland.
What does broadly comparable mean?
A variable that is broadly comparable means that outputs from Census 2021 in England and Wales can generally be compared with Scotland and Northern Ireland. Differences in how the data were collected or presented may reduce the ability to fully harmonise on outputs, but some harmonisation is still expected.
Find out more about variables produced for Census 2021 in Northern Ireland and Census 2022 in Scotland.