This article focuses on understanding and interpreting projections of household formation, which are published periodically by the UK government 'The projections are not forecasts, estimates or predictions. They are based entirely on what might be expected to occur if previous trends continue and are heavily dependent on the assumptions involved. Such trends can and do change...' The Rt. Hon. John Prescott MP on the 1999 household projections, Hansard, 29 March 1999, column 471