Of the household types the Census classifies, people living alone are growing fastest. Between the 2011 and 2021 Censuses, lone-person households rose by 25.5%, against 19.9% for all households and 15.9% for couples with children, which remain the most common type at 29.7%. In South Australia and Tasmania, people living alone already outnumber couples with children. Under Series II of the ABS’s household projections, which assumes recent changes in living arrangements continue but level off, lone-person households grow by 43.8% by 2046, faster than family households.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing, 2011, 2016 and 2021; Household and Family Projections, 2021 to 2046.
The Census household types
The Census classifies every occupied private dwelling by who lives there. A family household contains at least one family: a couple with or without children, a one-parent family, or another family of related people. A lone-person household is one person living alone, and a group household is two or more unrelated adults. ‘Couple without children’ includes couples whose children have left home as well as those who never had children. The figures are the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) time series for the 2011, 2016 and 2021 Censuses, recoded to the same boundaries. The number of people per household is covered in People per Household.
What changed between the Censuses
Australia had 8,182,562 households in 2011 and 9,808,428 in 2021, 19.9% more. Of the classified types, lone-person households grew fastest, by 25.5%, and by 17.2% between 2016 and 2021 alone. Couples without children grew by 20.0% and one-parent families by 19.1%. Couples with children grew by 15.9%, slower than households overall, so their share fell from 30.7% to 29.7%; they are still the largest single type. Group households grew by 12.7%.
Households by type, share of all households, 2011 and 2021
Occupied private dwellings. Source: ABS, Census of Population and Housing 2021, time series table T14.
Growth in households by type, 2011 to 2021
Change in the number of households between the 2011 and 2021 Censuses. Source: ABS, Census of Population and Housing 2021, time series table T14.
| Household type | 2011 | 2016 | 2021 | Change 2011–2021 | Share 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Couple with children | 2,511,988 | 2,687,390 | 2,912,510 | 15.9% | 29.7% |
| Couple without children | 2,072,942 | 2,198,549 | 2,487,803 | 20.0% | 25.4% |
| Lone person | 1,888,697 | 2,023,542 | 2,370,742 | 25.5% | 24.2% |
| One parent | 867,972 | 919,129 | 1,033,394 | 19.1% | 10.5% |
| Group | 321,010 | 354,911 | 361,822 | 12.7% | 3.7% |
| Other family | 97,713 | 102,560 | 108,945 | 11.5% | 1.1% |
| Other households | 422,241 | 575,540 | 533,210 | 26.3% | 5.4% |
| All households | 8,182,562 | 8,861,620 | 9,808,428 | 19.9% | 100.0% |
Occupied private dwellings by household composition, Census counts on 2021 boundaries. ‘Other households’ are visitor-only and households that could not be classified. Source: ABS, Census of Population and Housing 2021, time series table T14.
By state and territory
Lone-person households grew faster than couples with children in every state and territory. The ACT recorded the fastest growth in people living alone, 43.3% over the decade. In South Australia and Tasmania, lone-person households (27.3% and 27.6%) already outnumbered couples with children (26.9% and 24.0%); in Tasmania, couples without children did too, and the number of couples with children grew by only 3.8% over ten years. The Northern Territory had the lowest share of people living alone.
| Jurisdiction | Couple with children | Couple without children | Lone person | One parent | Lone-person growth 2011–2021 | Couple-with-children growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 30.8% | 25.0% | 23.7% | 10.6% | 20.8% | 14.5% |
| Victoria | 30.9% | 24.6% | 24.7% | 10.2% | 29.9% | 19.9% |
| Queensland | 27.9% | 26.4% | 23.1% | 11.1% | 30.4% | 14.4% |
| South Australia | 26.9% | 26.4% | 27.3% | 10.8% | 14.2% | 9.4% |
| Western Australia | 30.2% | 25.4% | 23.8% | 10.0% | 29.9% | 19.2% |
| Tasmania | 24.0% | 28.3% | 27.6% | 11.1% | 17.3% | 3.8% |
| Northern Territory | 27.0% | 20.2% | 19.7% | 10.3% | 26.2% | 10.5% |
| Australian Capital Territory | 30.8% | 25.8% | 24.8% | 9.3% | 43.3% | 25.5% |
Shares of all households in 2021, and growth in the number of each type between the 2011 and 2021 Censuses. Source: ABS, Census of Population and Housing 2021, time series table T14.
What the projections show
The ABS’s household projections, based on the 2021 Census, run to 2046 under three series. The series share the ABS’s medium population projection and differ in how living arrangements change. Under Series II, which assumes the changes seen from 2006 to 2021 continue but level off, lone-person households grow by 43.8% between 2021 and 2046, family households by 34.8% and all households by 37.1%; under Series III, which extends those changes in full, family households grow slightly faster (32.7% against 30.3%). With living arrangements held at their 2021 pattern (Series I), lone-person households grow by 50.2% and family households by 36.2%, which points to the changing age structure of the population as the main source of the growth. Among families, the companion family projections have couples without children growing by 37.5% and couples with children by 30.9% under Series II, with couples with children still more numerous in 2046 (4.08 million against 3.80 million). These are projections under stated assumptions, not forecasts.
Projected households by type, Series II, 2021 to 2046
Index, 2021 = 100. Source: ABS, Household and Family Projections, Australia, 2021 to 2046, Series II.
What this does not show
Census counts are five years apart, and the 2021 Census was held during pandemic restrictions in some states. The household types say who lives together, not why, and no link to housing demand or prices is drawn here. How older households, many of them people living alone, are housed is covered in Where Older Australians Live. The Demographic Analysis series carries the node readings.
Findings are presented on the basis of data and evidence alone.
