Decrease In Household Size Research Articles

A “Carbonizing Dragon”: China’s Fast Growing CO2 Emissions Revisited

China's annual CO(2) emissions grew by around 4 billion tonnes between 1992 and 2007. More than 70% of this increase occurred between 2002 and 2007. While growing export demand contributed more than 50% to the CO(2) emission growth between 2002 and 2005, capital investments have been responsible for 61% of emission growth in China between 2005 and 2007. We use structural decomposition analysis to identify the drivers for China's emission growth between 1992 and 2007, with special focus on the period 2002 to 2007 when growth was most rapid. In contrast to previous analysis, we find that efficiency improvements have largely offset additional CO(2) emissions from increased final consumption between 2002 and 2007. The strong increases in emissions growth between 2002 and 2007 are instead explained by structural change in China's economy, which has newly emerged as the third major emission driver. This structural change is mainly the result of capital investments, in particular, the growing prominence of construction services and their carbon intensive supply chain. By closing the model for capital investment, we can now show that the majority of emissions embodied in capital investment are utilized for domestic household and government consumption (35-49% and 19-36%, respectively) with smaller amounts for the production of exports (21-31%). Urbanization and the associated changes in lifestyle are shown to be more important than other socio-demographic drivers like the decreasing household size or growing population. We argue that mitigation efforts will depend on the future development of these key drivers, particularly capital investments which dictate future mitigation costs.

The decline of malaria in Finland – the impact of the vector and social variables

BackgroundMalaria was prevalent in Finland in the 18th century. It declined slowly without deliberate counter-measures and the last indigenous case was reported in 1954. In the present analysis of indigenous malaria in Finland, an effort was made to construct a data set on annual malaria cases of maximum temporal length to be able to evaluate the significance of different factors assumed to affect malaria trends.MethodsTo analyse the long-term trend malaria statistics were collected from 1750–2008. During that time, malaria frequency decreased from about 20,000 – 50,000 per 1,000,000 people to less than 1 per 1,000,000 people. To assess the cause of the decline, a correlation analysis was performed between malaria frequency per million people and temperature data, animal husbandry, consolidation of land by redistribution and household size.ResultsAnopheles messeae and Anopheles beklemishevi exist only as larvae in June and most of July. The females seek an overwintering place in August. Those that overwinter together with humans may act as vectors. They have to stay in their overwintering place from September to May because of the cold climate. The temperatures between June and July determine the number of malaria cases during the following transmission season. This did not, however, have an impact on the long-term trend of malaria. The change in animal husbandry and reclamation of wetlands may also be excluded as a possible cause for the decline of malaria. The long-term social changes, such as land consolidation and decreasing household size, showed a strong correlation with the decline of Plasmodium.ConclusionThe indigenous malaria in Finland faded out evenly in the whole country during 200 years with limited or no counter-measures or medication. It appears that malaria in Finland was basically a social disease and that malaria trends were strongly linked to changes in human behaviour. Decreasing household size caused fewer interactions between families and accordingly decreasing recolonization possibilities for Plasmodium. The permanent drop of the household size was the precondition for a permanent eradication of malaria.

RURAL LAND-USE TRENDS IN THE CONTERMINOUS UNITED STATES, 1950–2000

In order to understand the magnitude, direction, and geographic distribution of land-use changes, we evaluated land-use trends in U.S. counties during the latter half of the 20th century. Our paper synthesizes the dominant spatial and temporal trends in population, agriculture, and urbanized land uses, using a variety of data sources and an ecoregion classification as a frame of reference. A combination of increasing attractiveness of nonmetropolitan areas in the period 1970–2000, decreasing household size, and decreasing density of settlement has resulted in important trends in the patterns of developed land. By 2000, the area of low-density, exurban development beyond the urban fringe occupied nearly 15 times the area of higher density urbanized development. Efficiency gains, mechanization, and agglomeration of agricultural concerns has resulted in data that show cropland area to be stable throughout the Corn Belt and parts of the West between 1950 and 2000, but decreasing by about 22% east of the Mississippi River. We use a regional case study of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions to focus in more detail on the land-cover changes resulting from these dynamics. Dominating were land-cover changes associated with the timber practices in the forested plains ecoregions and urbanization in the piedmont ecoregions. Appalachian ecoregions show the slowest rates of land-cover change. The dominant trends of tremendous exurban growth, throughout the United States, and conversion and abandonment of agricultural lands, especially in the eastern United States, have important implications because they affect large areas of the country, the functioning of ecological systems, and the potential for restoration.

Logements et taille des ménages dans la dynamique des populations locales

<titre>Résumé</titre>L’évolution de toute population territoriale résulte du mouvement naturel et du mouvement migratoire. Mais alors que le premier est prépondérant pour les populations nationales, le second l’est pour les populations locales. À ce niveau, les migrations sont fortement dépendantes du logement, soit plus précisément de l’évolution du nombre de résidences principales et de celle de l’occupation de ces résidences.Ainsi, le dépeuplement de Paris intra-muros depuis la guerre s’explique par la baisse du nombre de ces résidences – en dépit de l’augmentation du nombre de logements – et surtout par la diminution de la taille des ménages. Celle-ci résulte, comme ailleurs en France, voire dans le monde occidental, de la « crise » du couple et du vieillissement démographique, mais tout autant de l’attirance exercée par Paris sur les personnes seules et les petits ménages de l’agglomération et du « refoulement » des familles en banlieue.Ce partage de l’espace de l’agglomération s’explique par plusieurs facteurs, au premier rang desquels la taille des logements, petite à Paris, plus grande en banlieue, et leur coût, élevé à Paris, meilleur marché en banlieue. Il en résulte que les jeunes adultes et les cadres sont de plus en plus nombreux dans la population parisienne. Cette tendance est surtout marquée dans les quartiers centraux, dont les petits logements et l’animation sont adaptés aux personnes seules.

Consumers' Restaurant Choice Behavior and the Impact of Socio-Economic and Demographic Factors

ABSTRACT This study investigates economic and socio-demographic factors influencing food facility choice for an evening meal. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted using data from the 1994-1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) and the Diet and Health Knowledge Survey (DHKS). Results indicate that income, age, household size, household composition (presence of a young child), urbanization, day of the week, and season of the year affect the choice of a particular foodservice facility for an evening meal. The demand for evening meals at full-service restaurants is likely to increase due to the aging of “baby boomers,” increasing household income, and decreasing household size. Quick-service restaurants, as they strive to maintain and grow market share, might consider focusing on the needs of households with young children.

Alaska Inupiat Subsistence and Wage Employment Patterns: Understanding Individual Choice

Following a decade of intense wage employment activity, North Slope Inupiat continue to engage in subsistence activities. Two surveys conducted a decade apart are used to examine the role of individual choice in the persistence of subsistence activities.Survey results document an increase in labor force participation, an increase in household income, and a decrease in household size. At the same time, the percentage of households on the North Slope obtaining over half their food from subsistence activities has increased. These and other findings suggest that continued subsistence activity is not simply a matter of necessity; it is also a matter of individual choice. Subsistence harvest and distribution activities may offer benefits well beyond nutrition that are less commonly available in wage jobs. Further research in this area may not only help explain the persistence of subsistence activities, but also provide a link with research on the mental wellbeing of Inupiat.

Metropolitan Housing Subsystems: A Comparative Review

Population, household, and housing data of twelve cities in industrialized countries are compared with respect to different rates of growth or decline in the inner and outer parts of the urban area. The study shows that in nearly all metropolitan areas the core declines in terms of population, but less in terms of households, and is stable or grows in terms of dwellings. This phenomenon can be characterized as a process of “spatial substitution” from core to periphery which is fast in terms of population, but slow in terms of dwellings because of the inherent inertia of the physical stock of the city. Following Batten (1985), a logistic substitution model is used to compare the speed and duration of spatial substitution in the urban areas studied. It is found that the process is similar in most urban areas, but that the cities have reached different points along its course. The conclusion is that the residential deconcentration observed in most urban areas in industrial countries is mainly a consequence of overall population growth or decline, decreasing household size, increasing per capita consumption of floor space, and lack of land in the core.

MODELING RESIDENTIAL CHOICE*

ABSTRACT. This paper presents a new approach in the modeling of residential choices for simulation purpose. The originality of the approach resides in the way recent developments in stochastic choice models are combined with deterministic mathematical programming which allows to define an equilibration process for simulation. In that respect, ex ante probabilities of housing choice based on random utility maximization under perceived constraints are distinguished from ex post probabilities of choice that respect supply constraints. The proposed model is tested on the Montreal Metropolitan Region, and a few simulation results based on a scenario of population aging and decrease in household size are analyzed.

Use of 12 groups of foods in households differing in size, income and receipt of food stamps

Using data from the Nationwide Food Consumption Surrey, 1977–78, this study assessed the influence of household size and composition, household income, and eligibility/participation in the Food Stamp Programme (FSP) on the weekly money value of specified food groups used from the household food supply. Mean money values of foods by food groups were calculated for various sample partitions and proportions of total food value allocated to the 12 specified food groups were analysed using ordinary least squares regression. Results indicated that household size had a statistically significant impact on household food consumption patterns. As per capita household income increased, percentage allocations to high‐cost meats and beverages generally increased while percentage allocations for the other 10 food groups decreased. The money value of food used per equivalent food energy need increased with decreasing household size and with increasing per capita household income. These relationships occurred for total food and for most of the specified food groups. Households that participated in the FSP used food with higher money value per‐equivalent food energy need than did households who were eligible but did not participate in the FSP.

Time and Social Structure: a Yugoslav Case Study

Cyclical and linear time perspectives on family household structures are defined. They are utilized in a case study of the father-son dyad in a central Ser bian village over the past 150 years. This relationship is critical to understanding the transitions in the South Slav extended family household, the zadruga. Data are based on oral recall and on vital, tax, and census records. Linear time measures include vital rates such as declining fertility and mortality as well as decreasing household size. Cyclical time measures, which have not varied in the period studied, include age at marriage and age of parent at birth of first child. All these elements are shown to affect the continued existence of extended house hold structures and condition their alteration from predominantly lateral exten sion including collateral kin to units of linear form emphasizing relations across three, and even four, generations. Analyzing these temporal processes is seen as a way of understanding the dynamics behind notions of stability and change in social structures.

Change in Household Size at Grasshopper

Changes through time in the size of cooking hearths are observed at Grasshopper. Using the construct of the domestic group, these changes are interpreted to indicate a decrease in the size of the household through time. Suggestions are made for testing this trend through the analysis of other domestic facilities and implements. The decrease in household size appears to depart from the ideal pattern of the developmental cycle. Hypotheses seeking to explain this departure indicate the important contributions that the analysis of the domestic group and its various subdivisions can make toward constructing models of cultural and behavioral change in the prehistoric Southwest. In recent years models of domestic groups and developmental cycles have been actively employed to explain architectural variability, organizational change and growth within prehistoric southwestern communities. Kemrer (1973) has investigated the developmental cycle of domestic groups at Kiet Siel (Dean 1969). At Grasshopper Reid (1973; Reid and Shimada, in press) has employed a developmental cycle model at the community level to describe pueblo growth while Rock (1972, 1973, this volume) has focused on the identification of domestic group boundaries and corporate activity structure in the archaeological record. Wilcox (in press) has incorporated these models into a general statement on the perception of prehistoric pueblo social groups at the Joint Site (Schiffer 1973). In pursuing these interests further, this paper presents preliminary results of investigation into changes in household size measured by changes in the size of domestic facilities at Grasshopper. These changes are discussed within the framework of domestic groups and evaluated in terms of departures from an ideal model of the developmental cycle of domestic groups. As an analytic construct first proposed by Fortes (1971), the domestic