Census 2021 - households

31.0% 51,741 (almost one in three) of Dorset’s households are single person households. 41.0% of households in Dorset are two person households.

Three and four person households make up 25.0% or a quarter of all households.

Only 8.0% of Dorset households have more than four people living in them

The data from the Census in 2021 illustrates a higher proportion of two person households in Dorset 41% compared to the national figure of 34% and slightly higher than the South West 37% but otherwise the breakdown in household size is similar.

Just under one in five (18.0%) of Dorset’s households are lone households where the resident is over 66, this compares to 13.0% for England and Wales and 15.0% for the South West.

65.0% of all households (almost two thirds) contain single families which could constitute a couple living together, a lone parent, a couple with dependent or non-dependent children, this figure is very similar to the South West and England and Wales.

There are 5.0% of multiple family households in Dorset compared to 6.0% regionally and 7.0% in England and Wales.

The ONS have used a range of other data collected from the Census in 2021 to determine whether a household may include characteristics that could indicate a level of deprivation.

The dimensions of deprivation used to classify households are indicators based on four selected household characteristics:

• education - A household is classified as deprived in the education dimension if no one has at least level 2 education and no one aged 16 to 18 years is a full-time student
• employment - A household is classified as deprived in the employment dimension if any member, not a full-time student, is either unemployed or disabled
• health - A household is classified as deprived in the health dimension if any member is disabled
• housing - A household is classified as deprived in the housing dimension if the household's accommodation is either overcrowded, in a shared dwelling, or has no central heating

Half of Dorset’s households are not deprived in any of the dimensions of deprivation which is reflected in the regional figure for the South West too.

Just under a half of all households in England and Wales 48.0% are not deprived in any of the indicators.

35.0% of Dorset’s households are deprived in one of the indicators slightly more than the regional and national figures.

12.0% are deprived in two dimensions and 2.0% in three dimensions which is slightly less than the regional figure and less than the national figure.

0% of households are deprived in all four of the dimensions in Dorset, the South West and England and Wales.