vitrine · UK · room 5 of 7
The 1990s room
The composite family. Each room is a statistical composite, assembled from separate distributions with separate sources. The family at the median income did not also have the median house, the median car, and the median diet. No single family described here ever existed; each fact tells you, in its provenance drawer, which real population it was measured from.
No curator's route yet
The room is open; the route is not written
This room's facts are sourced and complete. The editorial route through them has not been authored yet — the ledgers below are the exhibit.
era-graded wash · absent technology isn't drawn · every glyph opens its record
The complete room
All six ledgers, including the curator's route above and the records around it. Value, tier, measured population, and source on every line.
The home
2 exhibitsOwned 68%, private rented 9%, socially rented 23%A
Tenure of households, England and Wales, 1991observed record
% of households
Population measuredHouseholds in England and Wales
Source recordOffice for National Statistics · 2015 · Tier A
Full record
Home ownership down and renting up for the first time in a century
Office for National Statistics, 2015 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From ONS analysis of Census of England and Wales tenure. Owner-occupation peaked in this decade (68% in 1991), the high-water mark of Right to Buy. Private renting had fallen to 9% — its low point — while the social sector continued shrinking. Households, not families.
Source note: ONS analysis of tenure 1918–2011 from the Census of England and Wales, interpolated between census years. Reported as % of households: owned (owner-occupied), private rented, socially rented. Data CSV at https://static.ons.gov.uk/visual/2015/06/data.csv (HTTP 200 verified and byte-identical to the local copy). Figures are for households, not families — single-person and low-income households pull the tenure mix differently than a median four-person family would.
Assumption: The composite family
Office for National Statistics, 2015 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From ONS analysis of Census of England and Wales tenure. Owner-occupation peaked in this decade (68% in 1991), the high-water mark of Right to Buy. Private renting had fallen to 9% — its low point — while the social sector continued shrinking. Households, not families.
Source note: ONS analysis of tenure 1918–2011 from the Census of England and Wales, interpolated between census years. Reported as % of households: owned (owner-occupied), private rented, socially rented. Data CSV at https://static.ons.gov.uk/visual/2015/06/data.csv (HTTP 200 verified and byte-identical to the local copy). Figures are for households, not families — single-person and low-income households pull the tenure mix differently than a median four-person family would.
Assumption: The composite family
no reliable record accessible onlineD
Rooms, floor area, amenities (bath, WC, central heating)documented gap
n/a
Population measuredHouseholds in Great Britain (General Household Survey / General Lifestyle Survey)
Source recordOffice for National Statistics · 2013 · Tier D
Full record
General Lifestyle Survey: 40 years of data collection (Figure 40.2 — consumer durables and cars)
Office for National Statistics, 2013 · source
Confidence: D — Scholarly estimate
Curator note: The GHS recorded central-heating and appliance ownership through the 1990s, but the fuller GHS durable-goods table (central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum, dishwasher) is not in the archive for transcription.
Source note: Figure 40.2: percentage of households with consumer durables and cars, 1972–2011. Reports colour television, home computer, telephone, and car or van (the fuller durable basket — central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher — is in a separate table not included in this overview). Unweighted data. The GHS covered Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland); the survey was discontinued after 2012. Values transcribed from the figure's underlying data CSV (ghs-data-chart3.csv); an OCR pass of the figure misread two cells (telephone 42→43, colour TV 61→60), confirming the CSV, not the OCR, is authoritative.
Office for National Statistics, 2013 · source
Confidence: D — Scholarly estimate
Curator note: The GHS recorded central-heating and appliance ownership through the 1990s, but the fuller GHS durable-goods table (central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum, dishwasher) is not in the archive for transcription.
Source note: Figure 40.2: percentage of households with consumer durables and cars, 1972–2011. Reports colour television, home computer, telephone, and car or van (the fuller durable basket — central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher — is in a separate table not included in this overview). Unweighted data. The GHS covered Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland); the survey was discontinued after 2012. Values transcribed from the figure's underlying data CSV (ghs-data-chart3.csv); an OCR pass of the figure misread two cells (telephone 42→43, colour TV 61→60), confirming the CSV, not the OCR, is authoritative.
The budget
2 exhibits£295.60A
Average gross weekly earnings, adult male full-time employees, 1990observed record
GBP per week, nominal (mean gross weekly earnings, male full-time)
Population measuredAdult full-time employees in Great Britain whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence
Source recordOffice for National Statistics · 2025 · Tier A
Full record
Earnings time series of mean gross weekly earnings from 1938 to 2025
Office for National Statistics, 2025 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Basis: Weekly figure
Curator note: From the ONS long-run earnings series. 1990 (April sample, NES): adult male full-time £295.60/week; adult female full-time £201.50/week. Great Britain. Individual earnings, not family income. The decade began in recession (1990–92) and saw the start of the long real-wage slowdown.
Source note: Long-run weekly earnings series. 1938–1968 from Annual Abstract of Statistics (adult manual workers); 1968–2003 New Earnings Survey (NES); 2004+ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), weighted to LFS population totals. Male/female reported separately for 1938–1969; a combined all-employee series is available from 1970. Discontinuities at each methodology change are documented in the file. Data file resolves at /file?uri=.../current/19382025.xlsx (HTTP 200 verified).
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Values are shown in period money
Office for National Statistics, 2025 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Basis: Weekly figure
Curator note: From the ONS long-run earnings series. 1990 (April sample, NES): adult male full-time £295.60/week; adult female full-time £201.50/week. Great Britain. Individual earnings, not family income. The decade began in recession (1990–92) and saw the start of the long real-wage slowdown.
Source note: Long-run weekly earnings series. 1938–1968 from Annual Abstract of Statistics (adult manual workers); 1968–2003 New Earnings Survey (NES); 2004+ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), weighted to LFS population totals. Male/female reported separately for 1938–1969; a combined all-employee series is available from 1970. Discontinuities at each methodology change are documented in the file. Data file resolves at /file?uri=.../current/19382025.xlsx (HTTP 200 verified).
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Values are shown in period money
no reliable record accessible onlineD
Median household income, 1990sdocumented gap
n/a
Population measuredAdult full-time employees in Great Britain whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence
Source recordOffice for National Statistics · 2025 · Tier D
Full record
Earnings time series of mean gross weekly earnings from 1938 to 2025
Office for National Statistics, 2025 · source
Confidence: D — Scholarly estimate
Curator note: No median household-income series is transcribed for the 1990s. The HBAI series (from 1979/80, DWP) is the relevant source but is not in the archive. The weekly-earnings figure above is the available wage anchor, not a household-income median.
Source note: Long-run weekly earnings series. 1938–1968 from Annual Abstract of Statistics (adult manual workers); 1968–2003 New Earnings Survey (NES); 2004+ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), weighted to LFS population totals. Male/female reported separately for 1938–1969; a combined all-employee series is available from 1970. Discontinuities at each methodology change are documented in the file. Data file resolves at /file?uri=.../current/19382025.xlsx (HTTP 200 verified).
Office for National Statistics, 2025 · source
Confidence: D — Scholarly estimate
Curator note: No median household-income series is transcribed for the 1990s. The HBAI series (from 1979/80, DWP) is the relevant source but is not in the archive. The weekly-earnings figure above is the available wage anchor, not a household-income median.
Source note: Long-run weekly earnings series. 1938–1968 from Annual Abstract of Statistics (adult manual workers); 1968–2003 New Earnings Survey (NES); 2004+ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), weighted to LFS population totals. Male/female reported separately for 1938–1969; a combined all-employee series is available from 1970. Discontinuities at each methodology change are documented in the file. Data file resolves at /file?uri=.../current/19382025.xlsx (HTTP 200 verified).
The table
1 exhibitno reliable record accessible onlineD
The food basket, 1990sdocumented gap
n/a
Population measuredHouseholds in Great Britain (General Household Survey / General Lifestyle Survey)
Source recordOffice for National Statistics · 2013 · Tier D
Full record
General Lifestyle Survey: 40 years of data collection (Figure 40.2 — consumer durables and cars)
Office for National Statistics, 2013 · source
Confidence: D — Scholarly estimate
Curator note: The National Food Survey (NFS) ran continuously 1940–2000; the 1990s NFS data is not in the archive. (Archive holds NFS 1940–49 and 2023–24, but not the 1990s.)
Source note: Figure 40.2: percentage of households with consumer durables and cars, 1972–2011. Reports colour television, home computer, telephone, and car or van (the fuller durable basket — central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher — is in a separate table not included in this overview). Unweighted data. The GHS covered Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland); the survey was discontinued after 2012. Values transcribed from the figure's underlying data CSV (ghs-data-chart3.csv); an OCR pass of the figure misread two cells (telephone 42→43, colour TV 61→60), confirming the CSV, not the OCR, is authoritative.
Office for National Statistics, 2013 · source
Confidence: D — Scholarly estimate
Curator note: The National Food Survey (NFS) ran continuously 1940–2000; the 1990s NFS data is not in the archive. (Archive holds NFS 1940–49 and 2023–24, but not the 1990s.)
Source note: Figure 40.2: percentage of households with consumer durables and cars, 1972–2011. Reports colour television, home computer, telephone, and car or van (the fuller durable basket — central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher — is in a separate table not included in this overview). Unweighted data. The GHS covered Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland); the survey was discontinued after 2012. Values transcribed from the figure's underlying data CSV (ghs-data-chart3.csv); an OCR pass of the figure misread two cells (telephone 42→43, colour TV 61→60), confirming the CSV, not the OCR, is authoritative.
The day
1 exhibitno reliable record accessible onlineD
Weekly work hours, 1990sdocumented gap
n/a
Population measuredAdult full-time employees in Great Britain whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence
Source recordOffice for National Statistics · 2025 · Tier D
Full record
Earnings time series of mean gross weekly earnings from 1938 to 2025
Office for National Statistics, 2025 · source
Confidence: D — Scholarly estimate
Curator note: The LFS hours-worked series runs through the 1990s but is not in the archive. Without hours, weekly earnings cannot be converted to an hourly wage, so no affordability anchor is set.
Source note: Long-run weekly earnings series. 1938–1968 from Annual Abstract of Statistics (adult manual workers); 1968–2003 New Earnings Survey (NES); 2004+ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), weighted to LFS population totals. Male/female reported separately for 1938–1969; a combined all-employee series is available from 1970. Discontinuities at each methodology change are documented in the file. Data file resolves at /file?uri=.../current/19382025.xlsx (HTTP 200 verified).
Office for National Statistics, 2025 · source
Confidence: D — Scholarly estimate
Curator note: The LFS hours-worked series runs through the 1990s but is not in the archive. Without hours, weekly earnings cannot be converted to an hourly wage, so no affordability anchor is set.
Source note: Long-run weekly earnings series. 1938–1968 from Annual Abstract of Statistics (adult manual workers); 1968–2003 New Earnings Survey (NES); 2004+ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), weighted to LFS population totals. Male/female reported separately for 1938–1969; a combined all-employee series is available from 1970. Discontinuities at each methodology change are documented in the file. Data file resolves at /file?uri=.../current/19382025.xlsx (HTTP 200 verified).
What had arrived
4 exhibits93%A
Households with a colour television, 1990observed record
% of households with a colour television
Population measuredHouseholds in Great Britain (General Household Survey / General Lifestyle Survey)
Source recordOffice for National Statistics · 2013 · Tier A
Full record
General Lifestyle Survey: 40 years of data collection (Figure 40.2 — consumer durables and cars)
Office for National Statistics, 2013 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From GHS 40-year overview, Figure 40.2 (unweighted). Colour TV reached 93% in 1990 (95% by 1993) — effectively universal, as black-and-white-only sets became rare.
Source note: Figure 40.2: percentage of households with consumer durables and cars, 1972–2011. Reports colour television, home computer, telephone, and car or van (the fuller durable basket — central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher — is in a separate table not included in this overview). Unweighted data. The GHS covered Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland); the survey was discontinued after 2012. Values transcribed from the figure's underlying data CSV (ghs-data-chart3.csv); an OCR pass of the figure misread two cells (telephone 42→43, colour TV 61→60), confirming the CSV, not the OCR, is authoritative.
Assumption: The composite family
Office for National Statistics, 2013 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From GHS 40-year overview, Figure 40.2 (unweighted). Colour TV reached 93% in 1990 (95% by 1993) — effectively universal, as black-and-white-only sets became rare.
Source note: Figure 40.2: percentage of households with consumer durables and cars, 1972–2011. Reports colour television, home computer, telephone, and car or van (the fuller durable basket — central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher — is in a separate table not included in this overview). Unweighted data. The GHS covered Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland); the survey was discontinued after 2012. Values transcribed from the figure's underlying data CSV (ghs-data-chart3.csv); an OCR pass of the figure misread two cells (telephone 42→43, colour TV 61→60), confirming the CSV, not the OCR, is authoritative.
Assumption: The composite family
21%A
Households with a home computer, 1990observed record
% of households with a home computer
Population measuredHouseholds in Great Britain (General Household Survey / General Lifestyle Survey)
Source recordOffice for National Statistics · 2013 · Tier A
Full record
General Lifestyle Survey: 40 years of data collection (Figure 40.2 — consumer durables and cars)
Office for National Statistics, 2013 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From GHS 40-year overview, Figure 40.2 (unweighted). Home computers, first recorded by the GHS at 9% in 1984, reached 21% in 1990 (24% by 1993) as home PCs and early internet use spread.
Source note: Figure 40.2: percentage of households with consumer durables and cars, 1972–2011. Reports colour television, home computer, telephone, and car or van (the fuller durable basket — central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher — is in a separate table not included in this overview). Unweighted data. The GHS covered Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland); the survey was discontinued after 2012. Values transcribed from the figure's underlying data CSV (ghs-data-chart3.csv); an OCR pass of the figure misread two cells (telephone 42→43, colour TV 61→60), confirming the CSV, not the OCR, is authoritative.
Assumption: The composite family
Office for National Statistics, 2013 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From GHS 40-year overview, Figure 40.2 (unweighted). Home computers, first recorded by the GHS at 9% in 1984, reached 21% in 1990 (24% by 1993) as home PCs and early internet use spread.
Source note: Figure 40.2: percentage of households with consumer durables and cars, 1972–2011. Reports colour television, home computer, telephone, and car or van (the fuller durable basket — central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher — is in a separate table not included in this overview). Unweighted data. The GHS covered Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland); the survey was discontinued after 2012. Values transcribed from the figure's underlying data CSV (ghs-data-chart3.csv); an OCR pass of the figure misread two cells (telephone 42→43, colour TV 61→60), confirming the CSV, not the OCR, is authoritative.
Assumption: The composite family
88%A
Households with a telephone, 1990observed record
% of households with a telephone
Population measuredHouseholds in Great Britain (General Household Survey / General Lifestyle Survey)
Source recordOffice for National Statistics · 2013 · Tier A
Full record
General Lifestyle Survey: 40 years of data collection (Figure 40.2 — consumer durables and cars)
Office for National Statistics, 2013 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From GHS 40-year overview, Figure 40.2 (unweighted). Fixed-line telephone neared universality (88% in 1990, 90% by 1993) after BT privatisation and network expansion; mobile phones were just beginning (this GHS series counts the fixed line).
Source note: Figure 40.2: percentage of households with consumer durables and cars, 1972–2011. Reports colour television, home computer, telephone, and car or van (the fuller durable basket — central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher — is in a separate table not included in this overview). Unweighted data. The GHS covered Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland); the survey was discontinued after 2012. Values transcribed from the figure's underlying data CSV (ghs-data-chart3.csv); an OCR pass of the figure misread two cells (telephone 42→43, colour TV 61→60), confirming the CSV, not the OCR, is authoritative.
Assumption: The composite family
Office for National Statistics, 2013 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From GHS 40-year overview, Figure 40.2 (unweighted). Fixed-line telephone neared universality (88% in 1990, 90% by 1993) after BT privatisation and network expansion; mobile phones were just beginning (this GHS series counts the fixed line).
Source note: Figure 40.2: percentage of households with consumer durables and cars, 1972–2011. Reports colour television, home computer, telephone, and car or van (the fuller durable basket — central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher — is in a separate table not included in this overview). Unweighted data. The GHS covered Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland); the survey was discontinued after 2012. Values transcribed from the figure's underlying data CSV (ghs-data-chart3.csv); an OCR pass of the figure misread two cells (telephone 42→43, colour TV 61→60), confirming the CSV, not the OCR, is authoritative.
Assumption: The composite family
67%A
Households with a car or van, 1990observed record
% of households with a car or van
Population measuredHouseholds in Great Britain (General Household Survey / General Lifestyle Survey)
Source recordOffice for National Statistics · 2013 · Tier A
Full record
General Lifestyle Survey: 40 years of data collection (Figure 40.2 — consumer durables and cars)
Office for National Statistics, 2013 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From GHS 40-year overview, Figure 40.2 (unweighted). Car ownership reached 67% in 1990 (68% by 1993), approaching the levels of the denser US suburbs but still well below US national family ownership.
Source note: Figure 40.2: percentage of households with consumer durables and cars, 1972–2011. Reports colour television, home computer, telephone, and car or van (the fuller durable basket — central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher — is in a separate table not included in this overview). Unweighted data. The GHS covered Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland); the survey was discontinued after 2012. Values transcribed from the figure's underlying data CSV (ghs-data-chart3.csv); an OCR pass of the figure misread two cells (telephone 42→43, colour TV 61→60), confirming the CSV, not the OCR, is authoritative.
Assumption: The composite family
Office for National Statistics, 2013 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From GHS 40-year overview, Figure 40.2 (unweighted). Car ownership reached 67% in 1990 (68% by 1993), approaching the levels of the denser US suburbs but still well below US national family ownership.
Source note: Figure 40.2: percentage of households with consumer durables and cars, 1972–2011. Reports colour television, home computer, telephone, and car or van (the fuller durable basket — central heating, refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, dishwasher — is in a separate table not included in this overview). Unweighted data. The GHS covered Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland); the survey was discontinued after 2012. Values transcribed from the figure's underlying data CSV (ghs-data-chart3.csv); an OCR pass of the figure misread two cells (telephone 42→43, colour TV 61→60), confirming the CSV, not the OCR, is authoritative.
Assumption: The composite family
A day's work buys
1 exhibitno reliable record accessible onlineD
Affordability comparisons, 1990sdocumented gap
n/a
Population measuredAdult full-time employees in Great Britain whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence
Source recordOffice for National Statistics · 2025 · Tier D
Full record
Earnings time series of mean gross weekly earnings from 1938 to 2025
Office for National Statistics, 2025 · source
Confidence: D — Scholarly estimate
Curator note: Without an hourly wage (no hours data) or item prices in the archive, hours-of-work-to-afford comparisons cannot be computed for the 1990s. The weekly-earnings figure (£295.60 male full-time, 1990) is the available wage reference.
Source note: Long-run weekly earnings series. 1938–1968 from Annual Abstract of Statistics (adult manual workers); 1968–2003 New Earnings Survey (NES); 2004+ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), weighted to LFS population totals. Male/female reported separately for 1938–1969; a combined all-employee series is available from 1970. Discontinuities at each methodology change are documented in the file. Data file resolves at /file?uri=.../current/19382025.xlsx (HTTP 200 verified).
Office for National Statistics, 2025 · source
Confidence: D — Scholarly estimate
Curator note: Without an hourly wage (no hours data) or item prices in the archive, hours-of-work-to-afford comparisons cannot be computed for the 1990s. The weekly-earnings figure (£295.60 male full-time, 1990) is the available wage reference.
Source note: Long-run weekly earnings series. 1938–1968 from Annual Abstract of Statistics (adult manual workers); 1968–2003 New Earnings Survey (NES); 2004+ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), weighted to LFS population totals. Male/female reported separately for 1938–1969; a combined all-employee series is available from 1970. Discontinuities at each methodology change are documented in the file. Data file resolves at /file?uri=.../current/19382025.xlsx (HTTP 200 verified).
Confidence & flags
A — official statistical series
B — official microdata, computed by this project
C — reconstructed from period surveys
D — scholarly estimate
Gap — no reliable record; shown as the gap it is
Reading the atlas
Provenance is in the scan-line: every exhibit's row names its value, confidence tier, the population actually measured, and the source record. Chart points and stage glyphs open the same record.
Rising series draw in petrol, falling in ember. Absent technology isn't drawn — a bare house says more than ghosts.