IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v32y2015i44.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Temporal-spatial patterns of one-person households in China, 1982-2005

Author

Listed:
  • Adam Ka-Lok Cheung

    (Hong Kong Baptist University)

  • Wei-Jun Jean Yeung

    (National University of Singapore)

Abstract

Background: The number of one-person households (OPH) in China has risen over the past few decades, but there are few examinations of the patterns and trends in this rapidly growing family type. The changing composition and regional heterogeneity of Chinese OPH have important implications for family and individual well-being, and for the country’s resource allocation. Objective: We examine the temporal-spatial patterns of OPH in China between 1982 and 2005, and address three research questions: 1) To what extent have the prevalence and composition of OPH changed? 2) How have the geographical distributions of OPH in China changed? 3) What are the local demographic and socioeconomic contexts related to the changes in OPH? Methods: We analyse data from the 1% sample of the 1982 and 1990 censuses, and a sample of the inter-censual 1% Population Sample Survey in 2005. Descriptive analysis at the provincial level presents the trends of the changing distribution and composition of OPH. Fixed-effect models at the prefecture-level examine how three sets of factors (i.e., demographic trends, socioeconomic development and internal migration) are related to the changing prevalence of OPH over time. Results: OPH have become increasingly heterogeneous. They are, particularly for the non-widowed who live alone, increasingly clustered in developed areas. Results show that industrialisation and internal migration largely explain the changing spatial variation of OPH. Lengthened life expectancy and a decline in fertility help to explain the increase in widowed OPH, while industrialisation and migration are associated with the rise of non-widowed OPH.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam Ka-Lok Cheung & Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, 2015. "Temporal-spatial patterns of one-person households in China, 1982-2005," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(44), pages 1209-1238.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:32:y:2015:i:44
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2015.32.44
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol32/44/32-44.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2015.32.44?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sylvie Démurger & Jeffrey D. Sachs & Wing Thye Woo & Shuming Bao & Gene Chang & Andrew Mellinger, 2002. "Geography, Economic Policy, and Regional Development in China," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 1(1), pages 146-197.
    2. Zai Liang & Zhongdong Ma, 2004. "China's Floating Population: New Evidence from the 2000 Census," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 30(3), pages 467-488, September.
    3. Ravi Kanbur & Xiaobo Zhang, 2005. "Fifty Years of Regional Inequality in China: a Journey Through Central Planning, Reform, and Openness," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), pages 87-106, February.
    4. Frances Kobrin, 1976. "The fall in household size and the rise of the primary individual in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 13(1), pages 127-138, February.
    5. John Bongaarts & Zachary Zimmer, 2002. "Living Arrangements of Older Adults in the Developing World," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 57(3), pages 145-157.
    6. Robert Michael & Victor Fuchs & Sharon Scott, 1980. "changes in the propensity to live alone: 1950–1976," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 17(1), pages 39-56, February.
    7. Brian Gratton & Myron P. Gutmann, 2010. "Emptying the Nest: Older Men in the United States, 1880–2000," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(2), pages 331-356, June.
    8. Andrew J. Cherlin, 2012. "Goode's World Revolution and Family Patterns: A Reconsideration at Fifty Years," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 38(4), pages 577-607, December.
    9. Ellen Kramarow, 1995. "The elderly who live alone in the united states: Historical perspectives on household change," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 32(3), pages 335-352, August.
    10. Gallup, John L. & Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Mellinger, Andrew, "undated". "Geography and Economic Development," Instructional Stata datasets for econometrics geodata, Boston College Department of Economics.
    11. Juliet Stone & Ann Berrington & Jane Falkingham, 2011. "The changing determinants of UK young adults' living arrangements," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 25(20), pages 629-666.
    12. Kathleen Mcgarry & Robert Schoeni, 2000. "Social security, economic growth, and the rise in elderly widows’ independence in the twentieth century," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(2), pages 221-236, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wei-Jun Jean Yeung & Adam Ka-Lok Cheung, 2015. "Living Alone," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(40), pages 1099-1112.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adam Ka-Lok Cheung & Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, 2021. "Socioeconomic development and young adults’ propensity of living in one-person households: Compositional and contextual effects," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(11), pages 277-306.
    2. Emily Merchant & Brian Gratton & Myron Gutmann, 2012. "A Sudden Transition: Household Changes for Middle Aged U.S. Women in the Twentieth Century," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 31(5), pages 703-726, October.
    3. Hyunjoon Park & Jaesung Choi, 2015. "Long-term trends in living alone among Korean adults: Age, gender, and educational differences," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(43), pages 1177-1208.
    4. Gary V. Engelhardt & Jonathan Gruber & Cynthia D. Perry, 2002. "Social Security and Elderly Living Arrangements," NBER Working Papers 8911, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. David Reher & Miguel Requena, 2018. "Living Alone in Later Life: A Global Perspective," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 44(3), pages 427-454, September.
    6. Brian Gratton & Myron P. Gutmann, 2010. "Emptying the Nest: Older Men in the United States, 1880–2000," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(2), pages 331-356, June.
    7. Gary V. Engelhardt & Jonathan Gruber & Cynthia D. Perry, 2005. "Social Security and Elderly Living Arrangements: Evidence from the Social Security Notch," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(2).
    8. Albert Esteve & David S. Reher, 2021. "Rising Global Levels of Intergenerational Coresidence Among Young Adults," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 691-717, September.
    9. Cheng, Yuk-Shing & Li, Raymond & Woo, Chi-Keung, 2021. "Regional energy-growth nexus and energy conservation policy in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    10. Zhang, Xiaobo & Kanbur, Ravi, 2005. "Spatial inequality in education and health care in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 189-204.
    11. Jeofrey Bautista Abalos & Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, 2023. "Demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural factors for the rise in one-person households in developing countries: the case of the Philippines," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1-32, December.
    12. Calì, Massimiliano & Sen, Kunal, 2011. "Do Effective State Business Relations Matter for Economic Growth? Evidence from Indian States," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 1542-1557, September.
    13. Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 2007. "Staticide - America's Suicidal Healthcare Status Quo," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2007-014, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    14. Shi Li & Chuliang Luo & Terry Sicular, 2011. "Overview: Income Inequality and Poverty in China, 2002-2007," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 201110, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).
    15. Jayati Ghosh, 2010. "Poverty reduction in China and India: Policy implications of recent trends?," Working Papers 92, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    16. Xuemei Jiang & Erik Dietzenbacher & Bart Los, 2014. "A dissection of the growth of regional disparities in Chinese labor productivity between 1997 and 2002," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 52(2), pages 513-536, March.
    17. Liu, Qiyang & Lucas, Karen & Marsden, Greg & Liu, Yang, 2019. "Egalitarianism and public perception of social inequities: A case study of Beijing congestion charge," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 47-62.
    18. Jongchul Lee, 2006. "Sources Of Divergence Between Coastal And Interior Regions In China," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 123-138, December.
    19. Wai Choi Lee & Tsun Se Cheong & Yanrui Wu & Jianxin Wu, 2019. "The Impacts of Financial Development, Urbanization, and Globalization on Income Inequality: A Regression-based Decomposition Approach," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 18(2), pages 126-141, Summer.
    20. Chen, Anping, 2010. "Reducing China's regional disparities: Is there a growth cost?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 2-13, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    one-person households; living alone; China; trends; spatial pattern; economic development; internal migration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:32:y:2015:i:44. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.