Families and households

Person

The statistics covers all persons considered resident in Norway, according to the Central Population Register, on 1 January. The Population Registration Act of 16 January 1970 (with later amendments) and its provisions from 1994, define persons that are considered resident in Norway and how their address is determined. The total number of persons resident in an area is known as the total population. As from 1 January 2014 students that are registered in the CPR as living in their parents home are no longer part of the population of the family and household statistics.

Couple

Two persons are considered a couple when they are residents in the same household and are married to each other, registered partners or cohabitants, i.e. living together without being married or having a registered partnership. In addition to be living in the same household and be of opposite sex, two persons must fulfil at least one of the following requirements to be considered a cohabiting couple:

• have a child in common
• have checked out for being cohabitants in the Census 2001 questionnaire
• have been classified as a cohabitant couple in the system for data processing, control and revision

The data quality is not good enough to identify same sex cohabitants, and statistics for this group is accordingly not published.

Separated couples registered as resident in the same dwelling are considered a couple when they fulfil at least one of the 3 requirements above. Because a separated couple legally still is considered to be married, they are classified as married couples in the family and household statistics. Divorced couples still living in the same household fulfilling the same requirements are classified as cohabiting couples.

Child

A child is defined as any person with no partner and no own children, who has de jure place of usual residence in the household of at least one of their parents. A child is either biological or adopted. A foster child is not considered a child in this statistics.

Family

A family consists of persons resident in the same dwelling and related to each other as spouse, registered partner, cohabitant, and/or parent and child (regardless of the child's age). At most, a family may consist of two subsequent generations and one couple only. This means that persons that are married or cohabiting and/or living with their own children, do not belong to their parents' family. When persons that have previously been married are living with their parents, this is regarded as two families. Single persons are also considered a family, whereby all persons are part of a family, either together with others or on their own.

Household

A household consists of persons that are permanently resident in the same private dwelling or institution.

A private household comprises persons resident in the same dwelling, where this dwelling is not an institution. An institutional household comprises persons who have board, lodging, care or nursing at an institution. Employees that are resident in an institution are always considered resident in a private household. The statistics does not provide any figures for institutional households; however the number of persons not living in private households is given. This group is referred to as resident in Other households and comprises persons resident in institutional households as well as persons of no fixed abode.

The composition of households is based on information from the registers mentioned under the headline Production; Data sources and sampling and Collection of data, revision, and estimation. Households may consist of one or more families. Persons belonging to the same family also belong to the same household.