VERY INTERESTING: FAMILY

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about 

Top 10 facts about families

TODAY is the UN’s International Day of Families, with the theme “Advancing social integration and intergenerational solidarity”.

1. The definition of a ‘family’ used by the Office for National Statistics is “a married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with or without children, or a lone parent with at least one child”.

2. By that definition, according to the ONS, there were 18.2 million families in the UK in 2012.

3. Of those, 12.2 million consisted of a married couple with or without children.

4. Until the late 17th century, ‘family’ included not only relatives but also the servants of a household.

5. The word derives from the Latin ‘famulus’, meaning ‘a servant’.

6. A poll in 1997 reported that 35 per cent of lorry drivers think of their families while driving. Only seven per cent think of sex, drink and a night out.

7. More than two-thirds of homicide victims in the UK are killed by partners, ex-partners or other family members.

8. Forty-seven per cent of families with dependent children have only one child.

9. The first recorded use of the phrase “family size” in retailing was in 1882.

10. “Govern a family as you would cook a small fish – very gently” (Chinese proverb).

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking