To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of how many pensioner households there are in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland. [102034]
There are 5,800,000 pensioner households in the United Kingdom and 515,000 pensioner households in Scotland.
Notes:
1. Estimates are based on Census 2001 Key Statistics for local authorities in England and Wales and the General Register Office for Scotland rounded to the nearest 5,000 households.
2. A household comprises one person living alone or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address with common housekeeping, that is sharing either a living room or sitting room or at least one meal a day.
3. A pensioner household is defined as either a single person over state pension age, a couple, where both partners are over state pension age, or a group of individuals who are all over state pension age.