Overcrowded households

Published 2 August 2023

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• in the 3 years to March 2021, an average of 3.1% of households in England were overcrowded – this means they had fewer bedrooms than they needed to avoid sharing

• out of all ethnic groups, the highest rates of overcrowding were in Bangladeshi (22.5%), Arab (17.1%), black African (16.3%), and Pakistani (13.5%) households

• the lowest rate of overcrowding was in white British households (1.7%)

• in all socio-economic groups, age groups and income bands, and most regions, white British households were less likely to be overcrowded than households from all other ethnic groups combined

Research by the Health Foundation found that households headed by people from ethnic minority backgrounds were more than 3 times as likely to experience 2 or more housing problems, such as affordability, overcrowding and whether the home is classed as non-decent. 32% of people with multiple housing problems reported their health to be less than good, compared with 21% of people with no housing problems.

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data shows the number and percentage of households that are overcrowded, by ethnic group.

A household is overcrowded if it has fewer bedrooms than it needs to avoid sharing, based on the age, sex and relationship of household members. For example, one separate bedroom would be needed by:

• a married or cohabiting couple
• someone aged 21 or over
• 2 children of the same sex aged 10 to 20 years old
• 2 children of any sex under 10 years old

The information relates to households of either one person or a group of people sharing cooking facilities and a living room or dining area. It must be their main or only home.

Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place, but have been worked out using unrounded numbers. As a result, there may be some differences when recalculating these percentages using numerators and denominators.

Not included in the data

Estimates based on fewer than 5 households have not been included. This is because it is harder to make reliable generalisations from smaller numbers of survey respondents.

The ethnic groups used in the data

For data analysed by ethnicity, the 18 ethnic groups used in the 2011 Census are shown.

For data analysed by ethnicity and another factor (for example, socio-economic group), the following 2 ethnic groups are shown:

• white British
• all other ethnic groups combined (including white minority groups)

This is to keep group sizes big enough to be able to make reliable generalisations.

Each household’s ethnic group is the ethnicity of the ‘household reference person’ – usually the person responsible for paying the rent or mortgage. There may be people of different ethnicities in the same household.

The ethnicity was known for 99.9% of households.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document for this data.

The data is an average for the 3 years from April 2018 to March 2021. This is to make sure there are enough households to be able to make reliable generalisations. You can read more about combining multiple years of data and some of the issues involved.

The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about:

• interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people surveyed
• how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the whole group being studied

The data for 2020 to 2021 was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant that:

• face-to-face interviews were replaced with telephone interviews
• internal inspections were replaced with assessments of the outside of the property, along with information about the interior that the surveyor could safely collect on the doorstep
• there was a smaller number of people surveyed
• there were delays to the data being released
• some parts of this analysis use a binary ethnicity classification (white British, and all other ethnic groups combined), which does not meet the Cabinet Office guidelines on reporting on ethnicity

In the data file

See Download the data for:

• sample sizes
• weighted figures for the numerator and denominator

3. By ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: April 2018 to March 2021 (3 years combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) that were overcrowded, by ethnicity

Ethnicity	%	Overcrowded households	All households
All	3.1	736	23,731
Asian
Bangladeshi	22.5	31	136
Chinese			116
Indian	6.3	35	559
Pakistani	13.5	49	365
Asian other	10.5	20	193
Black
Black African	16.3	66	405
Black Caribbean	6.1	16	267
Black other	9.4	3	37
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian	6.8	6	95
Mixed White/Black African	12.4	10	80
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	4.4	4	84
Mixed other	6.4	6	92
White
White British	1.7	329	19,588
White Irish	3.7	7	182
White Gypsy/Traveller			5
White other	9.8	121	1,234
Other
Arab	17.1	14	80
Any other	6.4	14	215

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Overcrowded households By ethnicity Summary

The data shows that, in the 3 years to March 2021:

• 3.1% of the 24 million households in England were overcrowded – this means they had fewer bedrooms than they needed to avoid sharing

• out of all ethnic groups, the highest rates of overcrowding were in Bangladeshi (22.5%), Arab (17.1%), black African (16.3%), and Pakistani (13.5%) households

• the lowest rate was in white British households (1.7%)

4. By ethnicity and socio-economic group

• Location: England
• Time period: April 2018 to March 2021 (3 years combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) that were overcrowded, by ethnicity and socio-economic group

	All			White British			All Other Ethnic Groups
Socio-economic group	All %	All Overcrowded households	All All households	White British %	White British Overcrowded households	White British All households	All Other Ethnic Groups %	All Other Ethnic Groups Overcrowded households	All Other Ethnic Groups All households
All	2.9	657	22,377	1.6	297	18,589	9.5	360	3,788
Higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations	1.4	155	10,896	0.7	68	9,155	5.0	87	1,741
Intermediate occupations	3.6	176	4,912	1.7	70	4,081	12.9	107	830
Routine and manual occupations	5.0	326	6,569	3.0	160	5,352	13.6	166	1,217

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Overcrowded households By ethnicity and socio-economic group Summary

The data shows that:

• in every socio-economic group, white British households were less likely to be overcrowded than ethnic minority households

5. By ethnicity and income

• Location: England
• Time period: April 2018 to March 2021 (3 years combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) that were overcrowded, by ethnicity and weekly income

	All			White British			All Other Ethnic Groups
Weekly income band	All %	All Overcrowded households	All All households	White British %	White British Overcrowded households	White British All households	All Other Ethnic Groups %	All Other Ethnic Groups Overcrowded households	All Other Ethnic Groups All households
All	3.1	727	23,603	1.7	328	19,494	9.7	400	4,109
up to £99	0.0	0	232	0.0	0	181	0.0	0	50
£100 to £199	1.9	28	1,525	0.9	12	1,268	6.5	17	256
£200 to £299	3.0	71	2,324	2.0	39	2,002	9.9	32	322
£300 to £399	3.3	77	2,321	2.5	49	1,962	7.9	28	359
£400 to £499	3.9	85	2,183	2.3	42	1,812	11.6	43	371
£500 to £599	3.4	66	1,963	1.7	27	1,648	12.3	39	315
£600 to £699	4.5	86	1,921	2.1	33	1,540	14.1	54	381
£700 to £799	3.9	66	1,693	2.0	27	1,393	12.9	39	300
£800 to £899	2.7	40	1,479	1.2	14	1,196	9.1	26	283
£900 to £999	2.9	34	1,202	1.4	14	974	9.1	21	228
£1000 and above	2.6	174	6,761	1.3	71	5,517	8.2	102	1,244

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Overcrowded households By ethnicity and income Summary

The data shows that:

• in all income bands, white British households were less likely to be overcrowded than ethnic minority households

6. By ethnicity and area

• Location: England
• Time period: April 2018 to March 2021 (3 years combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) that were overcrowded, by ethnicity and area

	All			White British			All Other Ethnic Groups
Region	All %	All Overcrowded households	All All households	White British %	White British Overcrowded households	White British All households	All Other Ethnic Groups %	All Other Ethnic Groups Overcrowded households	All Other Ethnic Groups All households
All	3.1	736	23,731	1.7	329	19,588	9.8	407	4,143
East	2.0	53	2,609	1.6	36	2,275	4.9	16	334
East Midlands	2.2	44	2,030	1.3	24	1,800	8.5	20	230
London	8.5	299	3,527	3.4	61	1,796	13.8	238	1,730
North East	0.8	10	1,192	0.8	9	1,112			80
North West	2.6	84	3,192	1.8	50	2,808	8.8	34	384
South East	2.5	96	3,836	2.0	67	3,371	6.3	29	465
South West	1.2	31	2,514	0.8	19	2,319	6.3	12	195
West Midlands	3.1	76	2,464	1.8	35	1,995	8.7	41	470
Yorkshire and the Humber	1.8	43	2,367	1.3	28	2,112	5.9	15	255

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Overcrowded households By ethnicity and area Summary

The data shows that:

• in all regions of England except for the North East, white British households were less likely to be overcrowded than ethnic minority households

7. By ethnicity and age group

• Location: England
• Time period: April 2018 to March 2021 (3 years combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) that were overcrowded, by ethnicity and age group

	All			White British			All Other Ethnic Groups
Age group	All %	All Overcrowded households	All All households	White British %	White British Overcrowded households	White British All households	All Other Ethnic Groups %	All Other Ethnic Groups Overcrowded households	All Other Ethnic Groups All households
All	3.1	736	23,731	1.7	329	19,588	9.8	407	4,143
16 - 24	5.0	36	731	3.1	17	561	11.1	19	170
25 - 34	4.7	162	3,466	3.2	82	2,575	9.0	80	891
35 - 44	6.1	244	3,969	3.7	102	2,770	11.8	141	1,199
45 - 54	4.2	191	4,531	2.1	75	3,635	13.0	117	896
55 - 64	1.8	75	4,122	1.0	38	3,616	7.3	37	506
65 or over	0.4	28	6,913	0.2	15	6,430	2.7	13	483

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Overcrowded households By ethnicity and age group Summary

The data shows that:

• in every age group, white British households were less likely to be overcrowded than ethnic minority households

8. By ethnicity and type of occupancy (owning or renting)

• Location: England
• Time period: April 2018 to March 2021 (3 years combined)
• Source: English Housing Survey

Percentage and number of households (in thousands) affected by overcrowding, by ethnicity and type of occupancy (owning or renting)

	All			White British			All Other Ethnic Groups
Housing tenure	All %	All Overcrowded households	All All households	White British %	White British Overcrowded households	White British All households	All Other Ethnic Groups %	All Other Ethnic Groups Overcrowded households	All Other Ethnic Groups All households
All	3.1	736	23,731	1.7	329	19,588	9.8	407	4,143
owners	1.1	171	15,294	0.6	83	13,497	4.9	87	1,797
private renters	5.6	250	4,470	2.8	83	2,994	11.3	167	1,475
social sector	8.0	316	3,968	5.3	163	3,097	17.5	152	871

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Overcrowded households By ethnicity and type of occupancy (owning or renting) Summary

The data shows that:

• white British households were less likely to be overcrowded than ethnic minority households, regardless of whether they owned or rented their home

9. Data sources

Source

English Housing Survey

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

Overcrowded Households Data 2018-2021 - Spreadsheet (csv) 26 KB

Measure, Time, Time_type, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_type, Geography, Tenure, Age_group, NS-SEC, Income_band, Region, Value, Numerator, Denominator, Sample_size

Publication release date: 2 August 2023

full page history

1. 2 August 2023 Updated with latest available data.

From: Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Previous editions:

1. 9 September 2020
2. 7 August 2020
3. 2 March 2018

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