household

A household is a basic unit of analysis in demography and economics, broadly defined as one or more people who occupy a dwelling and share living arrangements, including food, housing costs, and household responsibilities. The composition of households varies widely and includes single-person households, nuclear families, extended families, cohabiting partners, roommates, and other living arrangements. A household may be distinct from a family, which is a related group of individuals by blood, marriage, or adoption; a family can be part of a household, but a household can also include non-relatives.

Household members often pool resources to meet housing, food, and energy costs, and to allocate time and labor for caregiving, maintenance, and other tasks. The distribution of work within households can be unequal by gender, age, or status, with implications for economic inequality and well-being.

In statistics and economic analysis, households are the primary decision-making units for consumption, saving, and labor supply. Household income and expenditure data are central to measures of living standards and poverty. Household surveys and censuses define households in ways that can vary by country, influencing comparability across data sets.

Household formation and dissolution are linked to social and demographic processes such as marriage, childbearing, migration, and aging. Housing tenure, such as owning or renting, affects stability and financial obligations. Policy frameworks use household measures to design tax systems, welfare programs, and urban planning.