- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toBy ethnicity section
- 3. Navigate toBy ethnicity and socio-economic group section
- 4. Navigate toBy ethnicity and income section
- 5. Navigate toBy ethnicity and area section
- 6. Navigate toBy ethnicity and age group section
- 7. Navigate toBy ethnicity and type of occupancy (renting or ownership) section
- 8. Navigate to Methodology section
- 9. Navigate to Data sources section
- 10. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
- in 2014 to 2017, around 8.3 million (36%) of the estimated 23 million households in England were under-occupied (that is, they had at least 2 bedrooms more than they needed)
- households from the Mixed White and Asian, White British, White Irish, Indian, and Any other Black ethnic groups were most likely to be under-occupied
- across all socio-economic groups and regions in England, and regardless of whether they owned or rented their home, White British households were more likely to under-occupy their home than households from all other ethnic groups combined
Things you need to know
Compared with White British households, ethnic minority households tend to:
- be younger
- have lived in England for a shorter time
- be located in urban areas
- live in larger households
- live in rented accommodation
To ensure that there is a large enough number of ethnic minority households to produce reliable findings, the data is drawn from the English Housing Survey (EHS) for 3 years combined: 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17.
You should avoid comparing these findings with those from last year. This is because last year’s findings were based on EHS data from 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16, so the source for last year’s and this year’s findings overlap.
Information published in the EHS headline report and other annual reports is usually based on a 12-month period, rather than the 3 years’ combined data used here. As a result, the statistics shown here may not match those in the EHS reports.
The commentary has focused on findings based on subgroups of at least 30 households to ensure that only reliable findings are reported.
The number of Gypsy or Irish Traveller households in the data is very small. To avoid disclosing personal information about individuals in those groups, information about them is not presented in some of the tables and charts.
The English Housing Survey (EHS) is a ‘sample survey’: it collects information from a random sample of the population to make generalisations (reach 'findings’) about the total population.
The commentary for this data only includes reliable, or ‘statistically significant’, findings.
Findings are statistically significant when we can be confident that they can be repeated, and are reflective of the total population rather than just the survey sample.
Specifically, the statistical tests used mean we can be confident that if we carried out the same survey on different random samples of the population, 19 times out of 20 we would get similar findings.
What the data measures
This data measures households under-occupying their home and how different ethnic groups are affected.
Under-occupation is measured using the bedroom standard. This is the difference between the number of bedrooms needed to avoid undesirable sharing (based on the age, sex and relationship of household members) and the number of bedrooms actually available to the household.
For example, each married or cohabiting couple would be allowed a bedroom, as would an individual aged 21 or over and each pair of adolescents or children of the same sex.
A household is counted as under-occupied if it has at least 2 bedrooms more than it needs according to the bedroom standard.
The figures are drawn from the 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17 English Housing Survey (EHS). The survey involves face-to-face interviews with about 13,300 randomly-selected households every year.
These are used to make estimates for the 23 million households in England as a whole.
The EHS is a national survey of people's housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of homes.
The information relates to households. A household is one person or a group of people (not necessarily related) who have the accommodation as their only or main residence. If it is a group, they must share cooking facilities and also share a living room, sitting room or dining area.
Some households contain people from different ethnic backgrounds. In these circumstances, the ethnic background of the ‘household reference person’ (usually the person in whose name the home is owned) is used to define the ethnic background of the household.
Nearly all the household reference persons – more than 99.8% interviewed – gave information on their ethnicity.
Data is shown for the following 9 regions:
- North East
- North West
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- East Midlands
- West Midlands
- East of England
- London
- South East
- South West
The ethnic categories used in this data
For comparisons made at national level, this data uses the following 18 ethnic groups based on the 2011 Census.
White:
- English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British
- Irish
- Gypsy, Traveller or Irish Traveller
- Any other White background
Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups:
- White and Black Caribbean
- White and Black African
- White and Asian
- Any other Mixed/Multiple ethnic background
Asian/Asian British:
- Indian
- Pakistani
- Bangladeshi
- Chinese
- Any other Asian background
Black/African/Caribbean/Black British:
- African
- Caribbean
- Any other Black/African/Caribbean background
Other ethnic group:
- Arab
- Any other ethnic group
For data analysed both by ethnicity and by socio-economic group, income, area and age, the following 2 ethnic categories have been used:
- White British
- Other – all other ethnic groups (including White ethnic minorities and all other ethnic minorities)
This is because the number of people surveyed becomes too small to be reliable when broken down by both ethnicity and another factor like socio-economic group or income. Data is therefore grouped to a size where estimates become reliable.
2. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | % | Under-occupying households ('000s) | All households ('000s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asian | |||
| Bangladeshi | 14 | 17 | 121 |
| Chinese | 18 | 22 | 123 |
| Indian | 29 | 152 | 517 |
| Pakistani | 19 | 66 | 338 |
| Asian other | 18 | 39 | 212 |
| Black | |||
| Black African | 9 | 35 | 396 |
| Black Caribbean | 22 | 63 | 284 |
| Black other | 36 | 12 | 34 |
| Mixed | |||
| Mixed White/Asian | 41 | 24 | 59 |
| Mixed White/Black African | 18 | 14 | 78 |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 19 | 18 | 97 |
| Mixed other | 18 | 8 | 44 |
| White | |||
| White British | 40 | 7,521 | 18,816 |
| White Irish | 37 | 67 | 181 |
| White Gypsy/Traveller | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| White other | 17 | 195 | 1,152 |
| Other | |||
| Arab | 11 | 8 | 69 |
| Any other | 17 | 42 | 240 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Households under-occupying their home By ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
- in 2014 to 2017, 8.3 million (36%) of the households in England were under-occupying their home in the time period studied (that is, they had at least 2 bedrooms more than they needed)
- households from the Mixed White and Asian (41%), White British (40%), White Irish (37%), Indian (29%), and Any other Black ethnic groups (36%) were most likely to under-occupy their home
3. By ethnicity and socio-economic group
| White British | Other than White British | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socio-economic group | White British % | White British Under-occupying households ('000s) | White British All households ('000s) | Other than White British % | Other than White British Under-occupying households ('000s) | Other than White British All households ('000s) |
| Higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations | 50 | 3,803 | 7,652 | 27 | 397 | 1,467 |
| Intermediate occupations | 40 | 1,537 | 3,887 | 18 | 130 | 740 |
| Routine and manual occupations | 29 | 1,783 | 6,195 | 14 | 184 | 1,346 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV)
Summary of Households under-occupying their home By ethnicity and socio-economic group Summary
This data shows that:
- across all socio-economic groups, White British households were more likely to under-occupy their home than households from all other ethnic groups combined
4. By ethnicity and income
| White British | Other than White British | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income band | White British % | White British Under-occupying households ('000s) | White British All households ('000s) | Other than White British % | Other than White British Under-occupying households ('000s) | Other than White British All households ('000s) |
| Up to £99 | 14 | 27 | 196 | 12 | 6 | 53 |
| £100 to £199 | 27 | 432 | 1,576 | 16 | 50 | 314 |
| £200 to £299 | 34 | 742 | 2,164 | 20 | 81 | 400 |
| £300 to £399 | 37 | 794 | 2,144 | 16 | 76 | 470 |
| £400 to £499 | 37 | 648 | 1,749 | 15 | 59 | 392 |
| £500 to £599 | 38 | 629 | 1,648 | 15 | 54 | 364 |
| £600 to £699 | 40 | 614 | 1,548 | 20 | 64 | 326 |
| £700 to £799 | 42 | 525 | 1,258 | 19 | 51 | 265 |
| £800 to £899 | 45 | 490 | 1,095 | 16 | 37 | 232 |
| £900 to £999 | 43 | 377 | 887 | 20 | 37 | 186 |
| £1000 and above | 50 | 2,203 | 4,439 | 29 | 265 | 917 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and income’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and income’ (CSV)
Summary of Households under-occupying their home By ethnicity and income Summary
This data shows that:
- in all income bands except the lowest (£99 a week or less), White British households were significantly more likely to under-occupy their home than households from all other ethnic groups combined
5. By ethnicity and area
| White British | Other than White British | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | White British % | White British Under-occupying households ('000s) | White British All households ('000s) | Other than White British % | Other than White British Under-occupying households ('000s) | Other than White British All households ('000s) |
| North East | 37 | 400 | 1,084 | 18 | 11 | 60 |
| North West | 38 | 1,041 | 2,732 | 21 | 75 | 351 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 39 | 782 | 2,002 | 20 | 50 | 255 |
| East Midlands | 41 | 710 | 1,711 | 22 | 52 | 236 |
| West Midlands | 42 | 830 | 1,963 | 24 | 91 | 385 |
| East | 42 | 911 | 2,179 | 27 | 90 | 334 |
| London | 32 | 558 | 1,721 | 16 | 260 | 1,654 |
| South East | 41 | 1,329 | 3,204 | 24 | 119 | 507 |
| South West | 43 | 958 | 2,221 | 21 | 36 | 172 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV)
Summary of Households under-occupying their home By ethnicity and area Summary
The data shows that:
- in every region of England, White British households were more likely to under-occupy their home than households from all other ethnic groups combined
6. By ethnicity and age group
| White British | Other than White British | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age group | White British % | White British Under-occupying households ('000s) | White British All households ('000s) | Other than White British % | Other than White British Under-occupying households ('000s) | Other than White British All households ('000s) |
| 16 - 24 | 12 | 70 | 562 | 8 | 17 | 201 |
| 25 - 34 | 20 | 471 | 2,364 | 10 | 96 | 944 |
| 35 - 44 | 25 | 708 | 2,855 | 15 | 168 | 1,110 |
| 45 - 54 | 35 | 1,305 | 3,742 | 20 | 162 | 803 |
| 55 - 64 | 50 | 1,646 | 3,295 | 33 | 143 | 436 |
| 65 or over | 55 | 3,321 | 5,998 | 44 | 199 | 458 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and age group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and age group’ (CSV)
Summary of Households under-occupying their home By ethnicity and age group Summary
The data shows that:
- across all age groups except 16 to 24 years old, White British households were significantly more likely to under-occupy their home than households from all other ethnic groups combined
7. By ethnicity and type of occupancy (renting or ownership)
| White British | Other than White British | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Housing tenure | White British % | White British Under-occupying households ('000s) | White British All households ('000s) | Other than White British % | Other than White British Under-occupying households ('000s) | Other than White British All households ('000s) |
| Owner occupiers | 53 | 6,721 | 12,749 | 37 | 600 | 1,602 |
| Social rented housing | 10 | 298 | 3,071 | 6 | 50 | 852 |
| Private rented housing | 17 | 502 | 2,996 | 9 | 134 | 1,498 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and type of occupancy (renting or ownership)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and type of occupancy (renting or ownership)’ (CSV)
Summary of Households under-occupying their home By ethnicity and type of occupancy (renting or ownership) Summary
This data shows that:
- White British households were more likely to under-occupy their home compared with households from all other ethnic groups combined, regardless of whether they owned or rented their home
8. Methodology
The English Housing Survey involves face-to-face interviews with a random sample of about 13,300 households a year.
The dwellings of about 6,000 of the interviewed households are randomly selected to take part in the physical survey element carried out by a qualified surveyor. In addition, a random sample of around 200 of the dwellings identified by the interviewer as vacant are also included in the physical survey element.
Weighting:
Weights are applied to the sample to produce estimates for the 23 million households in England as a whole.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
Estimates based on less than 30 households have not been included in these statistics, because small numbers of households make it impossible to draw meaningful conclusions. The analysis has been done using 2 broad ethnic groups only where broken down by socio-economic group, income, region or age. This prevents small numbers appearing in the table and avoids the potential for identification of individuals.
More detailed data, including some potentially disclosive data, is protected by a range of disclosure controls. See the guidance on English Housing Survey datasets for information accessing this data.
Rounding
Percentages shown in the charts and tables are rounded to the nearest whole number. Download the data to see figures rounded to 1 decimal place.
Figures for the numerator and denominator are weighted and rounded to the nearest whole number in the download files. Therefore, calculations of the percentages using these values may differ to the percentage figures shown on this page, which have been calculated using unrounded figures.
Related publications
English Housing Survey information and publications.
Quality and methodology information
9. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Note on corrections or updates
Information published in the EHS headline report and other annual reports is usually based on a 12-month period, rather than the 2 years’ combined data used here. As a result, the statistics shown here may not match those in the EHS reports.
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The English Housing Survey is a continuous national survey commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It collects information about people’s housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England.
10. Download the data
This file contains the following: ethnicity, time, age group, NS-SEC (socio-economic group), geography, income, region, housing tenure, value, denominator, numerator and sample size