Living arrangements
Between the ages of 15 and 24 many young people move from living with parent(s) to new types of living arrangements.
Household transitions and changes might include flatting with friends, moving into a university’s Halls of Residence, living with a boyfriend, girlfriend, de facto partner or spouse, and/or having children. Young people often move in and out of different living arrangements over time.
The chart below shows the youth population divided into one of four mutually exclusive groups:
- those living with one or more parents (but not with partners or children of their own) (1)
- those not living with family (without parents, partners or children)
- those living with a partner (of the same sex or the opposite sex), but without children
- those living with a child or children of their own (including both single parents and partnered parents, of the same sex or the opposite sex).
The majority of young people live with their parents...
... but this declines progressively with age. According to the 2006 Census, more than 98 percent of 12 year olds were living with parents. By age 18 the proportion living with parents fell to 65.2 percent, with 24.9 percent not living with family. At age 24, only a minority of young people (20.9 percent) were still living with their parents. The largest proportion of 24 year olds were not living with family (i.e. flatting, boarding or living alone, 34.3 percent), 22.6 percent were living with children of their own, and 22.2 percent were living in a couple without children.
Living arrangements by single year of age, 2006
Source: Statistics New Zealand, Census. Notes:
- Data relates to households in permanent private dwellings where household composition is known.
- (Absentees are excluded. Therefore a small proportion of children may be coded as “Not living with family” where their parents were absent on Census night.
- (Living Arrangements refer to the combination of role in family and household composition, not to the unofficial variables of the same name. Derivation:
- If couple only household, or if couple-only plus others household and a member of the family, then living arrangement = 'Couple without children'.
- If a member of a family household, and not otherwise excluded from being a parent, then living arrangement = 'Parent with child(ren)'.
- If a member of a family household, and not otherwise excluded from being a child, then living arrangement = 'Living with parent(s)'.
- Otherwise, 'Not living with family'.
Use the links to the left to explore differences in living arrangements by sex and ethnicity, as well as changes over time.
Notes
1. “Parents” in this section is taken from the Census 2006 definition: “A ‘parent’ is the mother, father (natural, step, adopted or foster), or ‘person in a parent role’ of a ‘child in a family nucleus’. A ‘person in a parent role’ is a person who is not a mother or father (natural, step, adopted or foster) of the young person (as defined by the survey) but who nevertheless usually resides with that young person.” For information about derivation of categories, please see the methodology report.
