household or family

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The line chart illustrates the global water used by agriculture, industry and households over the nineteenth century.
Which word is more idiomatic in this sentence:household or family? Should it be plural form or single?

Thank you.

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[+1] - rosborne979 - 08/27/2009[quote="jinmin1988"] [i]The line chart illustrates the global water used by agriculture, industry and [u]households[/u] over the nineteenth century.[/i] Which word is more idiomatic in...
[+1] - jinmin1988 - 08/27/2009The original context is global water by domestic use, but domestic doesn't have a noun form, so I change it to households, and I also wonder families.
[+1] - contrex - 08/27/2009[quote]domestic doesn't have a noun form[/quote] "home"

@jinmin1988,

jinmin1988 wrote:

The line chart illustrates the global water used by agriculture, industry and households over the nineteenth century.
Which word is more idiomatic in this sentence:household or family? Should it be plural form or single?

Thank you.

A "household" may contain more than one family (depending on the definitions of family and household that you use), so I don't think the terms are necessarily interchangeable, depending on the level of accuracy you are trying to achieve. In non-clinical communication the terms might be interchangeable.

If the sentence was in relation to a scientific study, then "household" would probably be the more accurate term if the study dealt with dwellings instead of familial relationships.

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@rosborne979,

The original context is global water by domestic use, but domestic doesn't have a noun form, so I change it to households, and I also wonder families.

household or family

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