UNITED NATIONS 'DEMOGRAPHIC YEARBOOK 1995' PUBLISHED

Press Release
ECO/1*
STAT/436

UNITED NATIONS 'DEMOGRAPHIC YEARBOOK 1995' PUBLISHED

The Demographic Yearbook 1995, which features statistics and indicators on household and family characteristics from 111 countries or areas, as well as marriage and divorce statistics, was published today by the United Nations. The information is compiled from the 1990 round of national population and housing census and prepared by the Statistics Division of the Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis.

Average household size among the 111 reporting countries or areas ranged from 7.0 persons in Algeria to 2.1 persons in Sweden, the Yearbook indicates. Among the 25 largest countries in the world, the largest average household size was in India, 5.5 persons per household, and the smallest was in the United States, the Russian Federation and France, which had 2.6 per household.

Four other countries reported an average of 5 or more persons per household -- Philippines, 5.3; Iran, 5.2; Mexico, 5.0; and Turkey, 5.0. Five countries reported between 4 and 5 per household -- Egypt, 4.9; Viet Nam, 4.8; Indonesia, 4.5; Brazil, 4.2; and China, 4.0. Two countries reported between 3 and 4 per household -- Republic of Korea, 3.7; and Japan, 3.0.

In Africa, average household size ranged from 7.0 in Algeria to 3.8 in Reunion. Eleven countries or areas reported an average household size of at least 5 persons as follows: Algeria, 7.0; Niger, 6.4; Comoros, 6.2; Côte d'Ivoire, 6.0; Benin, 5.9; South Africa, 5.8; Mali, 5.6; Zambia, 5.6; United Republic of Tanzania, 5.3; Namibia, 5.2; and Cape Verde, 5.0.

In North America, average household size of 5 or more persons was reported only in Mexico (5.0). Thirteen countries or areas reported household size of 3 to 4 persons. The smallest household size was reported in Canada (2.7), and Bermuda and the United States (2.6). In Canada, unrelated individuals lived together or an individual lived alone in 28 per cent of

__________ * Press releases for the Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis were formerly issued under the symbol EC. They are now issued under the symbol ECO.

households in 1991. Non-family households were also common in Panama (18.1 per cent). One-person households ranged from 5 per cent of households in Mexico to 12 per cent in Panama. In contrast, the United States reported 24.5 per cent of households with one person.

In South America, average household size of 5 persons and more was found only in Colombia (5.2). There were fewer than 4 persons per household, on average, in Argentina (3.7), French Guyana (3.4), Uruguay (3.3), and the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) (2.7).

In Asia, average household size ranged from 7.0 in Oman to under 4 in the Republic of Korea (3.7), Macau (3.6), Hong Kong (3.4), Cyprus (3.2), and Japan (3.0). Three countries reported household size over 6 person; while eight reported an average size of 5 persons. Only six countries -- China, Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Singapore and Viet Nam -- reported 4 persons per household. Except in Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Tajikistan, households of unrelated individuals were rare.

In Europe, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, with 3.8 persons per household, had the largest household size, followed by Belarus and Yugoslavia (3.6), the Republic of Moldova (3.4), Ireland and Malta (3.3), Ukraine (3.2), Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia (3.1), and Greece (3.0). The remaining countries and areas of Europe reported a household size less than 3, with the lowest being in Norway and Switzerland (2.4), Denmark (2.3) and Sweden (2.1).

Households composed entirely of a person living independently or of unrelated individuals were relatively common in Europe, ranging from over one third of all households in the Russian Federation (43 per cent), Norway (38 per cent) and Finland (35 per cent), to a low of 20 per cent in Poland and 19 per cent in Romania. Single-member households accounted for over 20 per cent or more of all households in 7 countries: Sweden (39.6 per cent), Norway (34.3 per cent), Russian Federation (29.8 per cent), Finland (28.2 per cent), France (27.1 per cent), Hungary (24.3 per cent) and Ireland (20.2 per cent).

In Oceania, average household size ranged from 2.8 in New Zealand to 6.5 in the Solomon Islands.

Household Structure

The definition of the household varies from one country to another. In some instances, a household is defined only by living under the same roof. More commonly, a household consists of persons living together who share cooking facilities and financial resources. In some countries, statistics are presented only for families.

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Identification of the householder, household head or reference person also differs among countries. The definition may be based on economic criteria, self-identification, age or simply the first person listed on the census questionnaire. In countries where spouses are considered equal in household authority or share economic responsibility, a reference person may be designated. Female headship may be underrepresented if census-takers assume a male in the household is the head.

The percentage of a particular population group that heads a household, as identified by age and sex, is used to measure the extent to which adults maintain independent households or are sharing households. In most countries or areas, men head their own households by their late thirties, while women do not. Among the 25 largest countries, female-headed households exceeded 20 per cent in the United States only, with 35.9 per cent.

Mean age at first marriage is shown for 115 countries or areas. Among the 25 largest countries in the world, the highest average age is reported in Germany (males 30.3, females 27.5). The lowest rate is in the Russian Federation (males 24.4, females 21.8) and Indonesia (males 25.2, females 21.6). Information is also provided on the percentage of households headed by youth and by elderly persons.

Among elderly persons, living alone was most common for women in Denmark, where 46.8 per cent of women over 60 live independently, and for men in Sweden, where 23.4 per cent live alone. Over one fourth of women over 60 years of age live alone in nine countries. In addition to Denmark, these countries were New Zealand (45.8), Sweden (44.7), Norway (40.0), Hungary (32.3), Canada (30.2), Romania (27.6), Poland (27.2), Slovenia (27.2), and Finland (25.6).

In addition to household and family characteristics shown under special topics, the regular tables of the 1995 Yearbook report on population in terms of urban or rural residence, sex and age, fertility, mortality, marriage and divorce.

The Yearbook shows that life expectancy of near 80 years for women is increasingly common in developed countries. In three of the world's largest countries -- Japan, France and Italy -- women live at least 80 years, on average. Men are expected to live more than 70 years in Japan (76.6 years), followed by the United Kingdom (74.2 years), Italy (73.8 years), France (72.9 years), Germany (72.8 years) and the United States (72.2 years).

Among the 25 largest countries, the gap in life expectancy between women and men is largest in the Russian Federation (13.6 years), Ukraine (10.2 years) and France (8.2 years). That gap is the smallest in Iran

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(0.9 years) and India (0.4 years). In Bangladesh, life expectancy for men is longer than for women by almost 1 year.

The Yearbook also reports on infant mortality rates, as the number of deaths of infants one year of age per 1,000 live births. The 10 countries or areas with the lowest infant mortality rates are Sweden (3.7), Singapore (4.0), Japan (4.2), Hong Kong (4.5), Finland (4.7), France (4.9), Norway (5.0), Switzerland (5.1), Denmark (5.3), Austria and Slovenia (5.5), and the Netherlands (5.6).

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NOTE:Demographic Yearbook 1995 (Sales No. E/F.97.XIII.1) may be ordered from the Sales Section, United Nations, New York or Geneva, or through major booksellers throughout the world. The price is $125 (price in other currencies may vary). A reference copy may be consulted by accredited correspondents at the press documents counter at Headquarters. The United Nations Statistics Division home page may be found at http://www.UN.ORG/Depts/UNSD.