Trends in Living Arrangements Around the World
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4882762 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Albert Esteves (0000-0001-9916-386X), David Reher (0000-0001-5648-0961), David S Reher |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 211-232 |
| Publication date | 2024-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Population and Development Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0098-7921 • E-ISSN: 1728-4457 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/padr.12603 |
| OpenAlex | W4391522024 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 31 |
Most people coreside with other kin in private households while others live alone. The incidence of coresidence with kin and solo living varies noticeably across societies. Scholars have long theorized about the role of modernization and cultural change for living arrangements, suggesting a trend toward the nuclearization of households (coresidence only with primary kin) or solo living as societies attain higher levels of development. There is little empirical evidence about global variations in living arrangements and about how such variations unfold at different levels of development. Here we address these fundamental questions. Using IPUMS census microdata for 279 samples and 90 countries, we develop a new metric for assessing the part of the lifetime a person can expect to reside with primary kin, nonprimary kin, or alone assuming exposure rates, from birth to death, to the living arrangements observed in a given year. Results show that coresidence patterns differ substantially across societies, with exposure to primary kin alone and to solo living substantially higher at higher levels of development (as measured with Human Development Index [HDI]). They also reveal a sustained decline in coresidence with nonprimary kin and/or with others nearly everywhere, supporting the idea of an increasing importance of nuclear living arrangements. This trend is most pronounced at medium levels of HDI. At very high levels of development, nuclear family coresidence tends to be stalling or is in decline in favor of more time spent living alone and, rather unexpectedly, to a modest increase in exposure to nonprimary kin within the household. We suggest different interpretations for these results
Economic geography · Geography · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving
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Migration, Stretched Households and the Loneliness of Older Adults in South Africa
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School Enrollment and Living Arrangements of Children in Sub‐Saharan Africa
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The family
World Revolution and Family Patterns.
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The Church, intensive kinship, and global psychological variation
The second demographic transition
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The Increase in Multigenerational Households in the UK
The demography of the unrelated individual
Historical Trends in Children Living in Multigenerational Households in the United States
The Future of Intergenerational Relations in Aging Societies
The Comparative History of Household and Family
Comparing Family Systems in Europe and Asia
Living Alone over the Life Course
Family Ties in Western Europe
Living Alone in Later Life
Rising Global Levels of Intergenerational Coresidence Among Young Adults
Household size and composition in the developing world in the 1990s
Six Ways Population Change Will Affect the Global Economy
The Unfolding Story of the Second Demographic Transition
Economic and Social Implications of the Demographic Transition
The formal demography of kinship
Prolonged Connections
The Future of Historical Family Demography
| Unique citing works | 9 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 9 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |