Scottish Household Survey 2019: twenty years of Scotland's people - summary report

Glossary

The SHS uses eight household types defined as follows: 

• A single adult household contains one adult aged 16 to 64 and no children.
• A single parent household contains one adult of any age and one or more children. This definition does not make any distinction between situations where a child has regular contact and/or partly resides with their other parent and a child who solely resides with and is cared for by one parent.
• A single older household contains one adult of pensionable age and no children. Pensionable age is 65 and over for both women and men.
• A small family household contains two adults of any age and one or two children.
• An older smaller household contains one adult aged 16 to 64 and one of pensionable age and no children, or two adults of pensionable age and no children.
• A large adult household contains three or more adults and no children.
• A small adult household contains two adults aged 16 to 64 and no children.
• A large family household contains two adults of any age and three or more children, or three or more adults of any age and one or more children.

The terms lowest and highest income households refer to the 20% of households with the lowest income in Scotland and the 20% highest income households, respectively