ENTREVISTA SEMI-ESTRUCTURADA

The distributions by age of the populations in various types of family households are shown in Table 4.1. The population in nuclear family households consisting of couples without children were mostly in the age groups 15-24 years (24 per cent), 25-34 years (22 per cent) and 65 years and over (20 per cent). The majority of them are likely to be newly wed couples and elderly couples whose children had all left home.

Table 4.1. Percentage distribution of family household population by age and by type of family household, Philippines: 1990

Age Nuclear family household

Extended family household Total Couple only One parent plus u n m a r r i e d children Couple plus unmarried c h i l d r e n < 5 0 .1 5 .8 1 6 .7 1 1 .6 1 4 .3 5 - 1 4 0 .9 2 5 .8 2 9 .1 2 0 .7 2 5 .8 1 5 - 2 4 2 3 .8 3 0 .6 18.1 2 2 .9 2 0 .2 2 5 - 3 4 2 2 .4 1 2 .0 1 5 .0 1 5 .0 1 5 .0 3 5 - 4 4 9 .7 8 .2 1 1 .3 8 .4 1 0 .2 4 5 - 5 4 9 .2 8 .5 6 .3 7 .5 6 .8 5 5 - 6 4 1 3 .9 5 .6 2 .6 6 .8 4 .3 6 5 + 2 0 .0 3 .5 0 .9 7.1 3 .3 Total 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 1 0 0 .0 N 6 ,3 1 6 1 2 ,7 5 9 1 7 9 ,9 3 5 8 7 ,6 2 4 2 8 6 , 6 3 4

S ource: C a lc u la te d using a 0 .5 p e r c e n t sam p le fro m the 1990 ce n su s d a ta fo r the Philippines.

The other types of family households, that is, nuclear family households composed of one parent and unmarried children, nuclear family households of two parents and unmarried children and extended family households, had relatively large

proportions of members who were less than 15 years old. Nuclear family households composed of two parents and unmarried children had the largest percentage of children less than 5 years of age (17 per cent). Extended family households had the second largest percentage of children less than 5 years of age (12 per cent). Overall, children (less than 15 years old) and young adults (15 to 24 years) altogether made up slightly more than 60 per cent of the population in family households in the Philippines.

b. Mean number of children and adults

One way of summarising the age composition of the population in family households is through the calculation of the average number of children and the average number of adults per household. These averages can also be utilised as measures of the extent to which fertility and family extendedness determine the size of the family household. In a related study, Kuznets (1978: 189) distinguished two sources of variations in family household size. One was the presence of children, which he called the NIC factor, that is, natural-increase children. The other was the presence of related adults, which he termed the JAA factor, that is, jointness or apartness of adults.

The NIC factor can be measured by the mean number of children in the family household, and the JAA factor by the mean number of adults. In the present sub­ section, it is only in the extended family household that an assessment of the importance of the so-called NIC factor relative to the so-called JAA factor as a determinant of the size of family household may be made. This is because, by definition, only the extended family household includes, as members, relatives other than the spouse and unmarried children of the household head. These are the married children of the head, and parents, siblings and other relatives of the head.

Thus, in the present sub-section, the analysis of the mean number of children and of adults is principally aimed at comparing the age composition of the populations in various types of family households. In Table 4.2, persons who were less than 15 years of age are defined as children, while those who were 15 years and older are

classified as adults. The table also shows the average number of elderly, that is, aged 60 years or over, in each type of family household.

Table 4.2. Mean number of persons under 15 years of age, mean number of persons aged 15 years and over, and mean number of persons aged 60 years and over in family households by type of family household, Philippines: 1990 Type of family household Persons per family household Persons under 15 years old per family household Persons aged 15 years and over per family household Persons aged 60 or over per family household N u c le a r C o u p le o n ly 2.07 0.02 2.05 0.57 O n e p a ren t p lu s u n m a r r ie d c h ild r e n 3.97 1.25 2.71 0.23 C o u p le p lu s u n m a r r ie d c h ild r e n 5.42 2.48 2.93 0.10 E x t e n d e d 6.36 2.05 4.31 0.66 T o t a l 5.38 2.16 3.23 0.28

Notes: Family households can include non-relatives as members (see Chapter 3 for the operational definitions of family households). Thus, it can be noted that the mean size of the 'couple only' family household is a little over two persons, which indicates the presence of non-relatives.

Source: Calculated using a 0.5 per cent sample from the 1990 census data for the

Philippines.

Nuclear family households consisting of the couple and their unmarried children had the largest number of members under 15 years of age (2.5 children, on average). Such members accounted for about 46 per cent (that is, 2.48/5.42*100) of the total number of people living in this type of household, which, on average, was 5.4 persons. The extended type of family household which had a mean size of 6.4 persons had the second largest number of members under 15 years of age (2.0 children). In this type of family household, they accounted for a lower percentage (32 per cent) of the total size.

about four members, on average.

As expected, there were more adult persons (that is, aged 15 years and older) in extended family households than in nuclear family households. There were more than four adults, on average, in extended family households as compared to about three in lone-parent family households and in family households consisting of the couple and their unmarried children. Persons aged 60 years and over tended to be found relatively more often in nuclear family households composed of the couple without children (0.57 persons aged 60+ per family household, on average) and in extended family households (0.66 persons aged 60+, on average). Sub-section 4.4.2 examines in more detail the living arrangements of the elderly in the Philippines.

Thus, it can be concluded that adults, defined here as persons 15 years old and over, made up the majority of the population living in all types of family households. In extended family households, adult members were more than twice the number of children (persons under 15 years of age). Adult non-relatives seem to be rarely present in nuclear family households composed of couples without children, as reflected by the mean number of adults of 2.05 persons. In lone-parent households, there were almost two adult members, on average, aside from the parent. In nuclear family households composed of two parents, there was about one adult member aside from the parents. These adult members were either never- married children of the head or non-relatives who were 15 years of age or older.

In relation to the cross-national variations in household size, it has been advanced that the marked differences in average household size between the developed and the developing nations are due to the significantly larger proportion of children in developing countries as a result of high fertility (Burch, 1967: 359; United Nations, 1973a: 342, 347; and Kuznets, 1978: 188). Empirical support to this argument may be provided by the data in Table 4.3. The mean number of persons less than 18 years of age and the mean number of persons 18 years of age and over for the Philippines for the

year 1990 are compared to the corresponding data for the United States for the year

1970. The figures in the table pertain to households, that is, family households and non­

family households combined.

Table 4.3. Mean number of persons below 18 years of age and mean number of persons aged 18 years and over by size of household, the Philippines and the United States

Size of household Philippines (1990)

persons per household

United States (1970) persons per household

below 18 18 and over below 18 18 and over

1 0.01 0.99 0.00 1.00 2 0.15 1.85 0.06 1.94 3 0.81 2.19 0.71 2.29 4 1.59 2.41 1.64 2.36 5 2.35 2.65 2.54 2.46 6 3.04 2.96 3.40 2.60 7 and over 4.33 3.88 5.21 3.06 Total 2.40 2.81 1.12 2.05 Percentage of the total size 46.07 53.93 35.33 64.67 Mean household size 5.21 3.17

Notes: The percentage of the total size who were under 18 years of age was calculated by dividing the mean number of persons less than 18 years of age by the overall mean size of household. For example, the figure for the Philippines was derived by dividing 2.40 by 5.21 and expressing it as a percentage. The percentage for persons 18 years old and over was derived in a similar manner.

Sources: Figures for the Philippines were calculated using a 0.5 per cent sample from the 1990 population census data for the Philippines. Figures for the United States were taken from Kuznets (1978: Table 1).

The mean number of members who were 18 years old and over was higher in

the Philippines for the year 1990 than in the United States for the year 1970 for

households with at least four members. This can be best explained by at least two types

prevalent in the Philippines. One is the prevalence of unmarried adults living with their parents, as will be shown in Sub-section 4.4.1. The other is the high incidence of extended family households in the Philippines.

By contrast, the mean number of members who were less than 18 years old was higher in the United States than in the Philippines for households with at least four members. However, overall, the mean number of persons in a household and the percentage of persons in a household who were below 18 years of age were notably lower in the United States than in the Philippines (3.17 persons as compared to 5.21 persons, and 35.3 per cent as compared to 46.1 per cent, respectively). This is because there was a higher proportion of large households in the Philippines (Table 3.2, Chapter 3) than in the United States (Kuznets, 1978: 190; Sweet and Bumpass, 1987: 349). In 1980, more than half of the households in the United States had one or two members, and the average number of members per household was even lower than the 1970 figure, that is, 2.75 persons (Sweet and Bumpass, 1987: 350). For the same year, the average number of members under 18 years of age was 0.80 persons, again, even lower than the 1970 figure, and only one-third of the 1990 figure for the Philippines (2.40 persons).