Nuclear families declining

2008-11-25 13:21

Johannesburg - The percentage of nuclear households in South Africa declined in the 10 years up to 2006, a South African Institute of Race Relations Survey has found.

The percentage of nuclear families - defined as households with a couple and their children - dropped by 26.9%, from 24.2% to 17.7%, during this period, according to survey results released on Tuesday.

However, the majority of households were still nuclear family households, researchers found.

The one-person household was the second most frequent type of household at 17.6%, followed by households that contain single parents and other relatives, at 17.3%.

Households containing the head of the family and other relatives, and households containing a couple, their children, and other relatives, were fourth and fifth respectively.

Single parent households

Single parent households were sixth, at 10.2% of the households in South Africa, and had decreased from 12.8% in 1996.

Households containing single parents and other relatives increased the most, from 11.5% in 1996, to 17.3% in 2006.

Also increasing notably in percentage terms were households of people not related, from 1.5% in 1996 to 4.6% in 2006, and households containing the head of the family and other relatives, from 7.6% in 1996 to 12.1% in 2006.

Gail Eddy, the demographics researcher at the Institute, said the most significant changes between 1996 and 2006 were the decline of the nuclear family household, and the rise of households that contain single parents and other relatives.

Researchers believed there was a correspondence between the lowered percentages of nuclear families and the increase in extended families live together.

This was possibly in order to combine resources and assist in parenting children.

- SAPA