Since the statistics presented in this report (except those for 1930) are estimates based on sample data, they are subject to sampling variability. If use is made of the smaller figures or of small difference between figures based on the censuses or surveys, particular care should be exercised, as explained below in the section on the reliability of the estimates.

All but a small proportion of the people in the United States live in family groups. Of the entire population covered by the 1953 survey, 93 percent were in families, 1 percent were in institutions, and the remaining 6 percent were living elsewhere apart from their relatives (as "unrelated individuals"). (See tables B, 1, and 2.) The proportion living as family members was greater in rural-farm areas (97 percent) than in other types of areas. The largest proportion of institutional population (2 percent) was found in rural-nonfarm areas. In urban areas, where many people live in more or less transient living quarters, the proportion of unrelated individuals was twice as large (8 percent) as in rural areas (4 percent).

The average size of family was 3.53 persons in 1953. (This figure is above the average size of household partly because some households consist of only one person, whereas families must comprise at least two mutually related persons, by definition.) The average number of (related) children under 18 years

old per family was 1.24. In nearly half of the families, however, there had not yet been any children or all children formerly in the family had left home or died. If the analysis is limited to families with one or more children still living in the home, the average number under 18 years old was much larger, 2.17 children. (See table 4.)

The relationship between the age of the family head and the ages of (own) children in the family is shown in tables C, 5, and 6. About half of the family heads under 30 years old had one or more sons or daughters under 3 years old; about two-thirds of the family heads under 35 years old had children of preschool age (under 6); and about half of the family heads between 30 and 44 years old had children of school age (6 to 17). Relatively few families have sons or daughters of dependent age (under 18) at home after the head has passed the age of 55.

The average size of household in 1953 was 3.28 persons, as compared with 3.35) persons in 1950 and 3.67 persons in 1940. (See table 1.) The decline in members per household has occurred mainly among adults. Between 1940 and 1953, the average number of children under 18 years old decreased only moderately, from 1.14 to 1.09, or 4 percent, whereas the average number 18 years old and over dropped more sharply, from 2.53 to 2.19, or 13 percent.

These changes in household size reflect a number of developments, among which are the following: The high marriage rates and the decline in age at marriage, which, on the one hand, have reduced the proportion of young

family (1.15) was nearly as great as the average number per family (1.24). (Subfamilies are family groups sharing the living quarters of relatives.) Children in subfamilies tend to be younger, however, than those in families; this fact is a function, in part, of the difference between the median ages of subfamily heads (30.9 years) and family heads (44.6 years). (See tables 1, 4, 7, and 8.)

Between 1951 and 1953, there have been, on the average, about 450,000 married women whose husbands were away from home in the Armed Forces. Close to 40 percent of these wives have maintained their own households and 60 percent have shared the living quarters of others. Nearly all of those who kept up households of their own had young children, whereas only a minority of the remainder had children. About out of every 10 who shared living quarters of others were staying with relatives. Among one-fourth of the married couples, both the husband and wife were members of the labor force in April 1953. This proportion has increased somewhat since 1950 when it was about one-fifth. Generally, wives 35 to 54 years of age are most likely to be in the labor force. (See table 9 and the accompanying chart.)

school children to care for, and married women

past 55 frequently lack the necessary skills and experience for suitable employment. The effect of the presence of small children upon labor force participation is shown in table 10. As observed in previous studies, mothers of preschool children are only half as likely to have jobs outside the home as are other married women.

There were less pronounced variations by age in the labor force participation of husbands; almost all husbands under 65 years of age were workers. Sharp declines in participation were noted, however, for those past that age. As a result, among roughly half of the couples past 65 neither husband nor wife was in the labor force.

RELATED REPORTS

Figures for 1953 on marital status and number of households were issued in Series P-20, Nos. 48 and 50. Statistics for years prior to 1953 on subjects covered in this report have been published by the Bureau of the Census in the following reports in Series P-20: No. 44 (1952), No. 38 (1951), No. 33 (1950), No. 26 (1949), Nos. 21 and 23 (1948), Nos. 11, 16, and 17 (1947); in Series P-S, No. 13 (1946); in Series P-46, No. 8 (1945); and in Series P-S, No. 3 (1944).

defini

Urban and rural residence.--The tion of urban and rural areas used in April 1953 is the same as that used in the 1950 Census. The urban population comprises all persons living in (a) places of 2,500 inhabitants or more incorporated as cities, boroughs, and villages, (b) incorporated towns of 2,500 inhabitants or more except in New England, New York, and Wisconsin, where "towns" are simply minor civil divisions of counties, (c) the densely settled urban fringe, including both

incorporated and unincorporated areas, around cities of 50,000 or more, and (d) unincorpo

rated places of 2,500 inhabitants or more outside any urban fringe. The remaining population is classified as rural.

Ac

Urbanized areas.--The urban population is classified as living in urbanized areas or in urban places other than urbanized areas. cording to the definition used in the 1950 Census and in the April 1953 Current Population Survey, the population in urbanized areas comprises all persons living in (a) cities of 50,000 inhabitants or more in 1940 or according to a special census taken between 1940 and 1950; and (b) the densely settled urban fringe, including both incorporated and unincorporated areas, surrounding these cities. The remaining urban population is classified as living in the smaller urban places not in the urbanized

areas.

Farm and nonfarm residence.--The rural population is subdivided into the rural-farm which comprises population, all rural residents living on farms, and the rural-nonfarm population, which comprises the remaining rural population.

Household and quasi household.--A household includes all of the persons who occupy a house, an apartment or other group of rooms, or a room that constitutes a dwelling unit. It includes the related family members and also the unrelated persons, if any, such as lodgers, maids, or hired hands who share the dwelling unit. A person living alone or a group of unrelated persons sharing the same living accommodations as partners is counted as a household. Quasi households, such as groups of persons living in institutions, hotels, and large rooming houses, are not counted as households.

Family.--The term "family,' as used here, refers to a group of two persons or more related by blood, marriage, or adoption and residing together; all such persons are considered as members of one family. A family may comprise persons in either a household or a quasi household. A lodger and his wife who are not related to the head of the household, or a resident employee and his wife living in, are considered as a separate family and not as part of the head's family. Thus, a household may contain more than one family. However, if the son of the head of the household and the son's wife are members of the household, they are treated as part of the head's family.

Married couple.--A married couple, as defined for census purposes, is a husband and his wife enumerated as members of the same household or quasi household. The married couple may or may not have children living with them. The expression "husband-wife" before the term "household," "family," or "subfamily" indicates that the head of the household, family, or subfamily is a married man whose wife lives with him. For example, a husband-wife family is a family with a head who is "married, wife present."

Parent-child group.--A parent-child group is a parent and one or more own sons or daughters under 18 years old living together. The most common example is a widow and her child sharing the same living quarters. The expression "parent-child" before the term "household," "family," or "subfamily" indicates that the head of the household, family, or subfamily is a parent who is not living with his (her)

spouse.

indi

A

Unrelated viduals are persons

individuals.--Unrelated (other than inmates of

institutions) who are not living with any relatives. An unrelated individual may be (a) a household head living alone or with nonrelatives only, (b) a lodger or resident employee with no relatives in the household, or (c) a quasi-household member who has no relatives living with him. Thus, a widow who occupies her house alone or with one or more other persons not related to her, a roomer not related

to anyone else in the dwelling unit, a maid

living as a member of her employer's household but with no relatives in the household, and a resident staff member hospital living apart from any relatives are all examples of

unrelated individuals.

in a

Primary individual.--A primary individual is a household head living alone or with nonrelatives only.

Secondary individual.--A secondary indi

vidual is a person in a household or quasi

household such as a guest, lodger, or resident employee (excluding primary individuals and inmates of institutions) who is not related to any other person in the household or quasi

household.

Inmate of an institution.--Inmates of institutions include such persons as patients in mental hospitals, persons in homes for the aged, and persons in penal institutions. Resident employees are not included among the

inmates.

Inmates of institutions are in a separate category largely because statistics on "unrelated individuals" are more useful to consumers of data on labor force, income, and housing statistics if they exclude inmates. Ordinarily, inmates are not in the labor force, they have no income, and they are not in the housing market.

Head of household, family, or subfamily.-One person in each household, family, or subfamily is designated as the "head." The number of heads, therefore, is equal to the number of households, families, or subfamilies. The head is usually the person regarded as the head by the members of the group. Married women are not classified as heads if their husbands are living with them at the time of the survey.

Age.--The age classification is based on the age of the person at his last birthday.

Marital status.--The marital status classification identifies four major categories:

Single, married, widowed, and divorced. These terms refer to the marital status at the time of the enumeration.

The category "Married" is further divided into "married, spouse present," "separated," and "other married, spouse absent." A person was classified as "married, spouse present" if the husband or wife was reported as a member of the household even though he or she may have been temporarily absent on business or on vacation, visiting, in a hospital, etc., at the time of the enumeration. Persons reported as separated included those with legal separations, those living apart with intentions of obtaining a divorce, and other persons permanently or temporarily estranged from their spouse because of marital discord. The group "other married, spouse absent" includes married persons employed and living for several months at a considerable distance from their homes, and all other married persons (except those reported as separated) whose place of residence was not the same as that of their spouse.

Husband in Armed Forces.--For women who were reported as married but whose husband was not enumerated in the same household or quasi household, an additional inquiry was made to determine whether their husband was in the Armed Forces. For women who were reported as separated, the additional question was not asked.

Color.--The term "color" refers to the division of the population into two groups, white and nonwhite. The nonwhite group includes Negroes, Indians, Japanese, Chinese, and other nonwhite races.

The proportion of nonwhite family units shown in this report for 1953 is significantly larger than the corresponding proportions shown in sample survey reports for 1952 and 1951. A part of the diference results from the inclusion in the 1953 survey of a sample segment in a recently opened housing project for Negroes. The larger proportion of nonwhite family units for 1953 should therefore be interpreted with caution.

primary family includes the members of the subfamily.

Own children and related children.--"Own" children in a family are sons and daughters, including stepchildren and adopted children, of the family head. Similarly, "own" children in a subfamily are sons and daughters of the subfamily head. "Related" children in a family include own children and all other children in the household who are related to the family head by blood, marriage, or adoption. All children shown as members of subfamilies are own children of the subfamily head. For each type of family unit the count of children is limited to single (unmarried) children.

Survey week.--The estimates for 1953 on labor force status relate to the activities

of persons during the calendar week end ing April 11, 1953 (designated as the "survey week").

Civilian labor force.--The civilian labor force comprises the total of all persons 14 years old and over classified as employed or unemployed in accordance with the definitions below. Also included in the labor force are the small number of persons serving in the Armed Forces who, at the time of the survey, were living off post or were living with their families on post.

"Employed persons" comprise those who, during the survey week, were either (a) "at work"--those who did any work for pay or profit, or worked without pay for 15 hours or more on a family farm or business; or (b) "with a job but not at work"--those who did not work and were not looking for work but had a job or business from which they were temporarily absent because of vacation, illness, industrial dispute, bad weather, or layoff with definite instructions to return to work within 30 days of layoff. Also included are persons who had new jobs but had not yet started to work.

did not work at all during the survey week and who were looking for work. Also included as unemployed are persons who would have been looking for work except that (a) they were temporarily ill, (b) they expected to return to a job from which they had been laid off for an indefinite period, or (c) they believed no work was available in their line of work or in the community.

Persons "not in the labor force" are those civilians 14 years old and over not classified as employed or unemployed.

SOURCE AND RELIABILITY OF THE ESTIMATES

The estimates for the years 1950 through 1953 presented in this report are based on data obtained in connection with the Bureau of the Census monthly population sample survey, the sample consisting of about 25,000 households located in 68 areas in 42 States and the District of Columbia.

Revisions in estimating procedure.--The estimating procedure used in the surveys involves, as a final step, the inflation of weighted sample results to independent estimates of the civilian noninstitutional population of the United States. Prior to 1953 these independent estimates were made separately for various age, veteran status, and sex classes, and were based on statistics from the 1940 Census of Population; statistics of births, deaths, immigration, and emigration; and statistics on the strength of the Armed Forces and separation records. For the 1953 data, the independent estimates were by age, veteran status, and sex and were based on the results of the 1950 Census adjusted for later births, deaths, etc. To these totals were added the population in the Armed Forces living off post or with their families on post, and the institutional population in 1950.

Although the introduction of the new population levels should improve the accuracy of the statistics, it creates some discontinuities in the published series. The figures for 1950, 1951, and 1952 which are presented in this report have been revised to make them consistent with the new population estimates for those years. The estimated number of families for 1950 on the new basis is about 225,000 greater than on the former basis; for 1953 the difference is 300,000. The estimated number of unrelated individuals for both 1950 and 1953 on the new basis is about 200,000 greater.

Source of data for 1940 and 1930.--The statistics for 1940 shown in this report on married couples, households, and quasi households are based on complete counts of 1940 Census returns published in Volume IV of the 1940 Reports on Population. The number of primary individuals shown for 1940 (reported in 1940 Census reports as the number of "oneperson families") is based on a sample of the returns for 1940 designated as Sample D; this is partly a 2-percent sample and partly a 5percent sample. The statistics shown for 1930 on households and primary individuals are based on complete counts of 1930 Census returns published in Volume VI of the 1930 Reports on