Complete the account of what historical demography established about the north-west European household.

Laslett and the Cambridge Group found mean household size in England stable at roughly 4.75 people over three centuries. Hajnal described a marriage pattern west of a line from Trieste to St Petersburg characterised by late marriage and a substantial share who never married. Larger pre-industrial households usually contained servants rather than co-resident grandparents.

The pattern hangs together: if couples must establish an independent household before marrying, they marry late, some never accumulate enough to marry at all, and the households they eventually form are small and neolocal. Servants circulate between them as a life-cycle stage rather than a permanent class, which is what makes the counts look larger than the families inside them.