With regard to the question of what is family, people have an essentially uniform and in its delimitation to the outside very heterogeneous perception. Based on predetermined lifestyles for which respondents in the 2012 FLB study were asked to indicate whether each one is a family, almost all respondents agree that a nuclear family, consisting of a heterosexual couple living together with children, is a family. The assessment of the other living arrangements seems to be based on their similarity to the nuclear family. However, for most people, many non-conventional living arrangements (i.e. those that differ from the nuclear family) are also regarded as families, especially when children live in them. Almost a third of people questioned consider each kind of cohabitation to be a family, even without children and without a marriage certificate. The rating varies according to the social situation of the respondents. Moreover, people tend to perceive the way of life in which they find themselves as a family rather than other people do.