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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Greater Melbourne, 33.1% of households were made up of couples with children in 2021, compared with 29.7% in Australia.
Greater Melbourne's household and family structure is one of the most important demographic indicators. It reveals the area's residential role and function, era of settlement and provides key insights into the level of demand for services and facilities as most are related to age and household types.
To continue building the story, Greater Melbourne's Household Summary should be viewed in conjunction with Households with Children, Households without Children, Household Size, Age Structure and Dwelling Type.
If you're looking at this data to prepare a housing strategy, learn more here.
Q:
Derived from the Census question:
'What is the person's relationship (to each other person in the household)?'
| Household type | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Melbourne - Total households (Enumerated) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Households by type | Number | % | Australia % | Number | % | Australia % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Couples with children | 615,318 | 33.1 | 29.7 | 557,252 | 33.5 | 30.3 | +58,066 |
| Couples without children | 436,086 | 23.5 | 25.4 | 381,683 | 22.9 | 24.8 | +54,403 |
| One parent families | 189,017 | 10.2 | 10.5 | 167,597 | 10.1 | 10.4 | +21,420 |
| Other families | 23,180 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 23,033 | 1.4 | 1.2 | +147 |
| Group household | 76,606 | 4.1 | 3.7 | 78,913 | 4.7 | 4.0 | -2,307 |
| Lone person | 441,142 | 23.7 | 24.2 | 366,004 | 22.0 | 22.8 | +75,138 |
| Other not classifiable household | 63,925 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 74,668 | 4.5 | 4.8 | -10,743 |
| Visitor only households | 13,524 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 15,404 | 0.9 | 1.7 | -1,880 |
| Total households | 1,858,798 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 1,664,554 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +194,244 |
Dominant groups
Analysis of the household/family types in Greater Melbourne in 2021 compared to Australia shows that there was a higher proportion of couple families with child(ren) as well as a similar proportion of one-parent families. Overall, 33.1% of total families were couple families with child(ren), and 10.2% were one-parent families, compared with 29.7% and 10.5% respectively for Australia.
There were a similar proportion of lone person households and a lower proportion of couples without children. Overall, the proportion of lone person households was 23.7% compared to 24.2% in Australia while the proportion of couples without children was 23.5% compared to 25.4% in Australia.
Emerging groups
The number of households in Greater Melbourne increased by 194,244 between 2016 and 2021.
The largest changes in family/household types in Greater Melbourne between 2016 and 2021 were:
- Lone person (+75,138 households)
- Couples with children (+58,066 households)
- Couples without children (+54,403 households)
- One parent families (+21,420 households)
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