Dwelling Unit - a separate and independent place of abode intended for habitation, or one not intended for habitation but occupied as living quarters by a household at the time of the census. A dwelling unit may be a group of rooms or just one room, barong-barong, boat or cave.

Household Head - the person who generally provides the chief source of income for the household unit. He is the adult person, male or female, who is responsible for the organization and care of the household or who is regarded as such by the members of the household.

Household, Institutional - groups of persons living in collective type of dwelling, such as boarding houses (with 10 or more boarders), hotels, boarding schools and colleges, penal establishments, chronic diseases hospitals, military installations, etc. The households of institutional directors and administrative personnel with separate living quarters are considered as private households.

Households, Double-Up - also termed as hidden household, it refers to the number of households in excess of the number of dwelling units at the same time of census, assuming a ratio of one household per dwelling unit. A household with a separate arrangement for food preparation and consumption but shares the dwelling unit of another household is considered hidden or doubled up.

Housing Density - the number of houses or dwelling units per unit area of land.

Housing Inventory/Stock - a listing of or the total number of dwelling units existing at a certain place and time.

Housing Unit - a structurally separate and independent place of abode which, by the way it has been constructed, converted or arranged is intended for habitation by one household. Structures or parts of structures which are not intended for habitation such as commercial, industrial, and cultural buildings or natural and man-made shelters such as caves, boats, abandoned trucks, culverts, and others, but which are used as living quarters by households.

Housing, Standard - a building which meets legal structural and functional criteria as defined under BP 220 (prescribing minimum designs and standards for socialized and economic housing)

Institution - any set of premises in a permanent structure or structures designed to house usually large groups of individuals who are subject to a common authority or regime or bound by a common public objective and/or personal interests and characteristics. In this type of housing unit, occupants of the same sex usually share dormitories. It includes hospitals, military barracks, boarding schools, convents, prisons, etc.

Institutional Buildings (hospital/convent/school dormitory/penal institution, etc.) - a building intended for persons confined to receive medical, charitable, or other treatment such as jails and penal colonies, and other buildings like convents, school dormitories, etc.

Institutional Population – the population enumerated during a census living in large institutions, such as national prisons and penal colonies, provincial and large city jails, tuberculosis sanitaria, mental hospitals, leprosaria, military, mining and logging camps, etc. The cut-off is more than 6-months duration.

Squatter (or informal dwellers) - one who settles on the land of another without title or right or without the owner's consent whether in urban or rural areas.

Tenure Status of the Housing Unit - the housing may be:

1. Owned/Being Amortized - the household is the owner and has legal possession of the housing unit, or the household claims to own it. Includes also housing units which are being amortized or on mortgage;
2. Rented - the occupant actually pays rent either in cash or in kind;
3. Being occupied for free with consent of owner - the household occupies the housing unit with owner's permission and without paying any rent in cash or in kind to the owner, tenant/lessee or subtenant/sublessee. These are usually the households of farm tenants or lessees who occupy rent-free houses belonging to the owner of the land they farm; also those employees given free housing as part of fringe benefits but must vacate the housing unit upon separation from work; and
4. Being occupied for free without consent of owner - the household occupies the housing unit without the consent or knowledge of the owner. Examples are squatters who occupy public and private buildings.

Definitions are per NSCB Resolution No. 11, Series of 2003 Annex-BR-11-2003-1.