1. A changing society
Imagine that someone from the 1950s could visit Britain today. What would surprise them? They might notice that households are generally smaller, that many more people have access to a car, and that television has become a normal feature of home life.
But how much has changed? To answer that question, we need more than adjectives such as big, small, common and rare. We need to describe quantities, compare numbers and express degrees of difference.
In 1951, the average household in England and Wales contained 3.2 people. By 2021, the average had fallen to 2.4 people.
In 1956, 36% of UK households had a television. By 2023, the figure was 96%.
These figures tell us that household size became smaller, while television ownership became much more widespread.
As you work through the unit, look carefully at what each statistic measures. An average is not a description of every household, and a percentage is not the same as a total number.
2. The evidence: Britain then and now
The figures below come from historical and official statistical sources. The dates are not always exactly the same because national surveys and censuses take place at different times.
Household size – England and Wales
Average number of people per household. The average was 0.8 people lower in 2021 – a fall of 25%.
Households with access to a car or van
The 1951 and 2010 figures are for Great Britain. The 2023 figure is for England. In 2023, 22% of households in England had no access to a car or van.
Households with a television – United Kingdom
The proportion rose by 60 percentage points. The 2023 figure was more than two and a half times the 1956 figure.
Telephones at home – United Kingdom
In 1952, roughly 10% of households had a landline. In Ofcom's later survey, 61% of households had a landline they could use, while 34% had a mobile phone only.
This is not a direct like-for-like comparison: mobile phones did not exist as a household option in 1952, and the later figures distinguish landline access from mobile-only households.
3. Talking about quantity and degree
A. Countable and uncountable quantities
Use many and few / a few with plural countable nouns. Use much and little / a little with uncountable nouns.
| Countable nouns | Uncountable nouns |
|---|---|
| many cars few telephones a few households fewer people | much money little time a little information less space |
Use fewer with countable plural nouns and less with uncountable nouns.
There were fewer cars on the roads in the 1950s.
People had less access to television and telephones.
B. More, less and fewer
More can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.
There are more households today.
People have access to more information.
There are fewer large households and less space in some homes.
C. How big is the difference?
| Small difference | Large difference |
|---|---|
| slightly more slightly fewer marginally less | considerably more far fewer much less substantially greater |
We can also use twice as many, three times as much, almost as many and not nearly as much.
The proportion of households with a television was almost three times as high in 2023 as in 1956.
The average household in 2021 was not as large as the average household in 1951.
D. Proportion and generalisation
Use these expressions when talking about parts of a population:
- most / the majority of – more than half, or the greater part;
- a large proportion of – a substantial part;
- a minority of – less than half;
- nearly all / almost all – very close to 100%;
- very few – a very small number of countable things or people.
Practice 1 – What do the figures tell us?
Choose the interpretation that is supported by the evidence in Section 2.
Practice 2 – Countable or uncountable?
Choose the word that completes each comparison correctly.
Practice 3 – How great was the change?
Choose the expression that best matches the size or direction of the difference.
Practice 4 – Proportions and generalisations
Choose the expression that accurately describes the proportion.
Practice 5 – The data detective
Some statements are supported by the figures; others go beyond what the figures tell us. Choose the best judgement.
4. Reading – A family then and now
Imagine two families. The first lives in England in 1956; the second lives in England in 2023. We cannot describe every family in either period, but national statistics help us to understand some of the differences.
The average household in England and Wales was larger in 1951 than it was seventy years later. In 1951, there were 3.2 people per household on average. By 2021, the figure had fallen to 2.4. This does not mean that every family had fewer children: household size includes people living alone and people sharing homes, as well as families with children.
Transport changed considerably. In 1951, only 14% of households in Great Britain had access to a car or van. By 2010, the proportion had risen to 75%. In England in 2023, 78% of households had access to at least one car or van. The proportion with access to a vehicle was therefore much greater than it had been in the early 1950s, although the later figures show that access was not universal.
Television ownership also became much more widespread. In 1956, 36% of UK households had a television. By 2023, the figure was 96%. In other words, television sets had moved from being present in a minority of homes to being found in almost all homes.
Communication changed in a different way. In 1952, roughly one household in ten had a landline telephone. In a later Ofcom survey, 61% of households had a landline they could use, while 34% had a mobile phone only. It would be misleading to compare these figures as if they measured exactly the same thing: the technology and the way people use it have changed.
These statistics reveal some striking differences, but they do not tell the whole story. They say little about the quality of family relationships, the amount of free time people had, or whether people felt happier. Numbers can describe changes in society, but we must be careful not to ask them to answer questions they were not designed to answer.
Check your understanding
5. Putting the language to work
Here are some useful sentence patterns for discussing social change:
The average household is smaller than it was in the 1950s.
Far more households have access to a car today.
Fewer households have no access to a car than in 1951.
Television ownership is much more widespread than it was in the 1950s.
A larger proportion of households have a television today.
The figures show a considerable increase in car access.
When you compare two periods, remember to say what you are comparing and when. Use more and fewer for numbers of things, more and less for amounts, and degree expressions to show how large the difference is.
Sources and notes
The statistics in this unit are drawn from the following sources. The links allow you to inspect the original material.
- Office for National Statistics – Households and Household Composition in England and Wales. Includes the 1951 average household size and the census trend to 2011.
- Office for National Statistics – Census 2021 household characteristics. Average household size in England and Wales in 2021.
- Department for Transport – Transport Statistics Great Britain 2011: Vehicles summary. Car or van access in households, 1951 and 2010.
- Department for Transport – National Travel Survey 2023. Car access in England in 2023.
- House of Commons Library – TV Licence Fee Statistics (2025). Television ownership in the UK, including 1956 and 2023.
- Ofcom – How communications have changed during 70 years of the Queen's reign. Television and telephone access in 1952 and later years.