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Description

GQ classifies all housing units as falling into one of two broad categories: households and group quarters. Group quarters are largely institutions and other group living arrangements, such as rooming houses and military barracks.

Housing units are given one of six codes combining the IPUMS and British rules for identifying group quarters.

The British rules for identifying group quarters are that the household has 12 or more people, and the ratio of people unrelated to the head to total household size is > 0.8.

1: Household with 0-4 persons unrelated to the head.
2: Household with 5-9 persons unrelated to the head
3: Households with 10 or more persons unrelated to the head, and group quarters under British rule.
4: Households with 10 or more persons unrelated to the head, but not group quarters under British rule. This includes the solitary case of a household of 11 unrelated individuals, and more diverse cases of households with 12 or more total, and 10 or more unrelated but where the ratio of unrelated to total is less than or equal to 0.8.

Housing units with a total of ten or fewer people are always categorized as regular households (GQ=1 or GQ=2).

Housing units of 11 people are categorized as group quarters only when all residents are unrelated to the head. Once a unit has more than 10 people unrelated to the head, it will always be a group quarters under the NAPP definition. Its classification under the British definition depends on the ratio - not the total number - of unrelated members. Thus housing units with large number of unrelated individuals may not be group quarters under the British rule if the ratio of unrelated to total members of the housing unit falls below 0.8.

Comparability

This variable is available in all countries and all samples except the Canadian samples for 1881 and earlier and Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1819, which currently have no relationship to household head.

Universe

Availability

• Canada: 1891, 1901
• Great Britain: 1851, 1881, 1881
• Iceland: 1801, 1901
• Norway: 1801, 1865, 1875, 1900
• Sweden: 1900
• United States: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1880, 1900, 1910