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This is a useful phrase. Let's say you want to say that you are the eldest amongst your sibling. Then we include your parents. You say:

I am the eldest in a family of six.

When you say that, is your family's total number is 6 or 7?

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    How can there be seven people in a family of six? The number that you've specified is the number.
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Feb 16, 2019 at 6:27
  • It's just that I wasn't absolutely sure of that. I didn't use my common sense, and I considered the possibility of grammar rule exceptions, because you know, English is a weird, annoyingly complicated language and so on.
    – John Arvin
    Commented Feb 16, 2019 at 16:24

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You are included as you are talking about your part in that group.

So the total number of that family would be six.

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