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Dwelling
Household
Adults
Family income
Economic family type
Census family type
Major income earner
Family classification
In general terms a dwelling is defined as a set of living quarters. A private dwelling is a separate set of living quarters with a private access. A collective dwelling may be institutional, communal or commercial in nature. Of the different types of collective dwellings, SLID covers only communal dwellings.
A household is defined as a person or group of persons residing in a dwelling. SLID defines households and families according to the living arrangements on December 31 of the reference year. Residents of Canada are also defined at those points in time.
Adults are defined in SLID as individuals 16 or older as of December 31st of the reference year.
Family income is the sum of income of each adult in the family as defined above. Household income is likewise the sum of incomes of all adults in the household. Family and household membership is defined at a particular point in time, while income is based on the entire calendar year. The family members or “composition” may have changed during the reference year, but no adjustment is made to family income to reflect this change.
“Economic family type” refers to either economic families or unattached individuals. An economic family is defined as a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common law or adoption. An unattached individual is a person living either alone or with others to whom he or she is unrelated, such as roommates or a lodger. See Family classification for more detailed groupings.
“Census family type” refers to either census families or persons not in census families. The term “census family” corresponds to what is commonly referred to as a “nuclear family” or “immediate family”. In general, it consists of a married couple or common-law couple with or without children, or a lone-parent with a child or children. Furthermore, each child does not have his or her own spouse or child living in the household. A “child” of a parent in a census family must be under the age of 25 and there must be a parent-child relationship (guardian relationships such as aunt or uncle are not sufficient).
Persons “not in census families” are those living alone, living with unrelated individuals, or living with relatives but not in a husband-wife or parent-unmarried child (including guardianship-child) relationship.
By definition, all persons who are members of a census family are also members of the same economic family.
See Family classification for more detailed groupings.
This characteristic is important for the derivation of detailed family types (see Family classification). For each household and family, the major income earner is the person with the highest income before tax, with one exception: a child living in the same census family as his/her parent(s) cannot be identified as the major income earner of the census family (this does not apply to economic families).
For persons with negative total income before tax, the absolute value of their income is used, to reflect the fact that negative incomes generally arise from losses “earned” in the market-place which are not meant to be sustained. In the rare situations where two persons have exactly the same income, the older person is the major income earner.
SLID uses the major income earner to classify families.
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The major income earner is aged 65 or over.
The major income earner is under age 65.
Married couples, including legally married, common-law and same-sex relationships, where one of the spouses is the major income earner.
A child or children (by birth, adopted, step, or foster) of the major income earner under age 18. Other relatives may also be in the family.
Includes at least one child as defined above. Families where the parent is 65 years or older are excluded.
A person related to the major income earner by blood, marriage, adoption or common-law.
A person in the economic family who is not the major income earner nor his/her spouse or child under age 18.