Ethnic Clustering Research Articles

Enculturation and ethnic identity: the second-generation Malayalee diaspora in Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT Malayalee immigrants from Kerala, a southern state of India, constitute an ethnic diaspora community in Ontario, Canada. Though Malayalee diaspora is smaller, ccompared to other diasporas in Ontario, including various Indian ethnic diasporas, it is the fastest growing one. The second generation in the Malayalee diaspora is more prone to the host culture by means of acculturation and education. To preserve their own ethnic culture, the Malayalee diasporic communities enculturate their children in multiple ways. The present article explores the process of enculturation of the second-generation Malayalee diaspora happening through family, religion, ethnic organisations, and ethnic clusters. Family is instrumental in the enculturation process for maintaining the ethnic identity of the second-generation Malayalee diaspora by preserving ethnic food, dress, language, values, and other cultural traits. Ethnic associations, ethnic clusters, and religion also make significant efforts to encourage them to maintain ethnic Malayalee identity.

A case for race and space in auto ownership modeling: A Los Angeles County study

Auto ownership behavior is driven by complex relationships that can vary dramatically across different traveler groups and communities. Differences in auto ownership among racial groups have been of particular interest, given ongoing efforts to advance equity in transportation outcomes. There are a number of studies documenting racial disparities in auto ownership associated with racial and ethnic residential clustering, termed “automobile mismatch.” Yet, these differences in auto ownership behavior by race and residential location are virtually never considered in models of travel behavior, despite calls for the consideration for race in transportation planning and decision making. This study aims to bridge the gap between understandings of the connections between race and space and transportation outcomes, using Los Angeles County as a case study. A series of auto ownership model specifications are used to investigate statistical connections between the racial and ethnic categories of residents, and neighborhoods, revealing systematic variations across racial and spatial dimensions. The composite model, which includes racial and spatial indicators, outperforms the base model, suggesting that the inclusion of race and space explains significantly more information on variations in auto ownership and provides a superior fit to the data. Our findings also suggest that the exclusion of racial and spatial indicators may lead to overestimation of certain effects, and may completely misrepresent the importance of certain household, individual-level, and built environment effects in explaining auto ownership preferences. Given the increasing attention to equity and representation in transportation outcomes, models that exclude considerations for race and space may be poorly positioned to support meaningful transportation equity analyses.

Формирование новых этнических групп в Калмыкии в 1957–1991 гг.

Introduction. The article discusses the shaping of largest ethnic clusters (besides those of Kalmyks and Russians proper) across the Kalmyk ASSR in 1957–1991. The process is of certain scientific and practical interest, since it may extend our knowledge of how ethnic structures in Russia would take shape, including in the particular region of Kalmykia. Goals. The article aims at outlining the specified process in the territory of the Kalmyk ASSR at the final stage of the Soviet era. The study employs the historical/comparative and historical/genetic methods to examine materials from the National Archive of Kalmykia, published documents and statistical tables, republican newspaper articles. Results. The work investigates some circumstances behind the emergence of new ethnic clusters, shows their population dynamics, types and forms of resettlement, analyzes official policies and interethnic relations between locals and migrants. The present-day ethnic structure of Kalmykia started taking shape after the Kalmyk people’s autonomy was restored in 1957. The Government invested considerable funds to reconstruct and develop the Kalmyk ASSR but the available labor resources of Kalmyk homecomers and Russian natives were insufficient. So, the authorities were forced to recruit laborers in other regions. Stable new ethnic communities emerged in rural areas, the majority of the migrants having arrived from neighboring North Caucasian republics then characterized by intense population growth and excess labor resources. Shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union, urgently evacuated Meskhetian Turks and Kurds were also resettled to the republic. Conclusions. The emergence of new ethnic clusters in the Kalmyk ASSR was facilitated by the Government’s large investments that resulted in increased jobs unable to be filled by homecomers and locals. There were no special ethnic resettlement projects but the granted employment opportunities in the reestablished republic were attractive enough, which led to a migration surge and the shaping of new ethnic communities.

Proteomic characteristics of the aqueous humor in Uyghur patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome and pseudoexfoliative glaucoma

Pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PEX) is characterized by the deposition of fibrous pseudoexfoliation material (PEXM) in the eye, and secondary glaucoma associated with this syndrome has a faster and more severe clinical course. The incidence of PEX and pseudoexfoliative glaucoma (PEXG) exhibits ethnic clustering; however, few proteomic studies related to PEX and PEXG have been conducted in Asian populations. Therefore, we aimed to conduct proteomic analysis on the aqueous humor (AH) obtained from Uyghur patients with cataracts, those with PEX and cataracts, and those with PEXG and cataracts to better understand the molecular mechanisms of the disease and identify its potential biomarkers. To this end, AH was collected from patients with cataracts (n = 10, control group), PEX with cataracts (n = 10, PEX group), and PEXG with cataracts (n = 10, PEXG group) during phacoemulsification. Label-free quantitative proteomic techniques combined with bioinformatics were used to identify and analyze differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in the AH of PEX and PEXG groups. Then, independent AH samples (n = 12, each group) were collected to validate DEPs by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The PEX group exhibited 25 DEPs, while the PEXG group showed 44 DEPs, both compared to the control group. Subsequently, we found three newly identified proteins in both PEX and PEXG groups, wherein FRAS1-related extracellular matrix protein 2 (FREM2) and osteoclast-associated receptor (OSCAR) exhibited downregulation, whereas coagulation Factor IX (F9) displayed upregulation. Bioinformatics analysis suggested that extracellular matrix interactions, abnormal blood-derived proteins, and lysosomes were mainly involved in the process of PEX and PEXG, and the PPI network further revealed F9 may serve as a potential biomarker for both PEX and PEXG. In conclusion, this study provides new information for understanding the proteomics of AH in PEX and PEXG.

Statehood exercises in Ethiopia and their jurisprudential significance: clarifying normative hurdles and addressing empirical challenges

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the unconditional right to self-determination claim of ethnic groups under the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Constitution, and how the demands for statehood have been handled since 2018. Using the Sidama and South-Western Ethiopian Peoples (SWEP) statehood exercise, this paper highlights the main issues and challenges concerning the process of claiming and achieving internal statehood. These include the principles of who has the right to vote in a statehood referendum, the matter of ethnic clustering to claim statehood, protecting the rights of minorities, the challenge of merging geographically distant Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (NNPs) into states, the transfer of power to the new state, and the division of assets and liabilities once a statehood claim is approved. It concludes that whilst the Constitution is flexible and allows for innovation, the Sidama and SWEP experiences demonstrate that it is now time for a review of the Constitution.

The impact of board ethnic diversity and Chief Executive Officer role on corporate social responsibility

AbstractWe examine the influence of board ethnic diversity on firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities within modern day corporations. Using firm‐year observations in Australia from the period 2004–2017, we document that board ethnic diversity leads to better CSR performance and CSR disclosure. Our results suggest that for every additional ethnic cluster represented on the board, on average, a firm's CSR performance rating from ASSET4 is higher by 2.6% and the odds ratio of producing a CSR report increases by 38.8%. The results are robust to controlling for endogeneity (using both instrumental variable approach and difference‐in‐differences analysis) and alternate proxies to measure CSR performance and ethnic diversity. We also document the moderating impact of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) power on the relationship between board ethnic diversity and firms' CSR activities. Specifically, a less powerful CEO and a CEO of ethnic minority (i.e., non‐Anglo) are more likely to facilitate this relationship. This study adds to our understanding of how board ethnic diversity, an often‐overlooked factor in prior research, can have significant impacts on firm outcomes.

Ethnic spatial dispersion and immigrant identity*

ABSTRACT The role of ethnic clustering in ethnic identity formation has remained unexplored, mainly due to missing detailed data. This study closes the knowledge gap for Germany by employing a unique combination of datasets, the survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and disaggregated information at low geographical levels from the last two but still unexploited full German censuses, 1970 and 1987. Utilizing the exogenous placement of immigrants during the recruitment era in the 1960s and 1970s we find that local co-ethnic concentration affects immigrants’ ethnic identity. While residential ethnic clustering strengthens immigrants’ retention of an affiliation with their origin (minority identity), it weakens identification with the host society (majority identity). The effects are nonlinear and become significant only at relatively high levels of co-ethnic concentration for the minority identity and at very low levels of local concentration for the majority identity. The findings are robust to an instrumental variable approach.

An unusual refuge: A case study of a South Asian and African multi-ethnic cluster in a Hong Kong rural walled village

This article explores an unusual multi-ethnic cluster in a walled village in rural Hong Kong. Once known for its exclusivity, the village, located in the New Territories, now houses hundreds of ethnic minority migrants, of whom one-third are South Asian and African. The article draws on 30 months of fieldwork between 2008 and 2011 and subsequent fieldwork in 2019–2020, including in-depth interviews with migrants and indigenous villagers in one walled village, to investigate the nature of these multi-ethnic clusters. The author critically examines the extent to which prevalent theories of ethnic clustering can be applied to the emerging phenomenon of growing multi-ethnic clusters in this rural part of Hong Kong. By examining the form and factors contributing to cluster formation, the author argues that the demographic characteristics, location, and constitution of such formations are not entirely consistent with existing studies in the West. Theories of the development of multi-ethnic clusters should therefore take into account their particular political, historical, and cultural context, as well as the socioeconomic characteristics of the location.

ETHNICITY-SPECIFIC EXTREME LONGEVITY VARIANTS IN A CONSORTIUM OF FOUR CENTENARIAN STUDIES

Abstract It has been shown that some longevity variants including the APOE variants have ethnicity-specific effects on EL within European ethnicities. The goal of the present study is to identify genetic variants whose effects vary by ethnicity by conducting a genome-wide association study of extreme longevity (EL: defined as living past the age at which less than 1% individuals from the 1900 - 1920 birth year cohorts survived) that includes the SNP-by-ethnicity interaction terms using a consortium of four centenarian studies: the New England Centenarian Study, the Long Life Family Study, the Southern Italian Centenarian Study, and the Longevity Gene Project. We used the Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP), a non-linear dimension reduction technique, to identify distinct ethnic clusters. The UMAP analysis revealed four distinct ethnic groups (Danish, Italian, Ashkenazi Jewish, and middle European) in the aggregated data set with 2223 cases and 5673 controls. Using a mixed effects logistic model with SNP-by-ethnicity interaction terms, we found 29 loci, in which the test of any interaction effect produced p< 10-5. The results showed that some variants had ethnicity-specific effects on EL. We sought for replication in two independent studies of longevity: the Danish Longevity Study and the Italian Longevity Study. In the Italian Longevity Study, rs7907949 (PFKP), rs11667516 (intergenic: RAB11B;MARCHF2), rs13245505 (intergenic: ZC3HC1;KLHDC10) replicated with a nominal significance level of 0.05. In the Danish Longevity Study, rs79853795 (PLCB1) and rs4072601 (SLC39A11) replicated. Future drug development should account for ethnic-specific differences in the genetic effects for higher efficacy for more diverse populations.

Shaping health: conducting a community health needs assessment in culturally diverse peripheral population groups

IntroductionThe impact of social determinants on health status and outcomes has been widely established. However, it is recognized that health systems' ability to address community health needs may be limited. To better understand the interrelation between social determinants of health and health outcomes, health systems need to understand the health concerns and needs of populations. The aim of this study was to map the perceived health needs of Israel's northern periphery’s diverse ethnic and religious communities and regional clusters by conducting a community health needs assessment (CHNA).MethodsThe study employed a mixed-methods approach. We conducted a CHNA in the Galilee between November 2019 to January 2020 (n = 750). Additionally, we conducted focus groups using design thinking methodology to better understand the underlying causes of existing gaps between community and healthcare representatives (n = 42). Quantitative data was analyzed using multiple logistic regressions and qualitative data was analyzed using a content and thematic analysis.ResultsGalilee residents perceived sense of community (78%) as the major strength while cancer (53%) was perceived as the major health problem followed by heart disease and stroke (28.4%). The adjusted odds ratios for the association of each predictor with each perceived social and structural determinants of health among respondents indicated that Arab respondents were more likely to report race/ethnicity discrimination, domestic violence, lack of parks and recreation, neighborhood violence, limited places to exercise, school dropout and limited access to healthy food, as determinants affecting health than Jews. Conversely, Jews were more likely than Arabs to report access to mental health services, access to transportation, lack of job opportunities and access to a doctor's office as determinants affecting their health. Qualitative analysis revealed residents felt a 'lack of health security' as a result of problematic access to specialty and mental health services, especially for elderly populations.ConclusionsCHNA can inform the design of tailored interventions that will improve health for Galilee residents addressing their socioeconomic-cultural–geographical characteristics. The study's findings raise the need to create such tailored approaches to address the lack of health security felt by residents and improve not only health services provision but the social determinants affecting their health.

Group Ties amid Industrial Change

AbstractCoethnics often work in the same industries. How does this ethnic clustering affect individuals’ political loyalties amid industrial growth and decline? Focusing on migrant groups, the author contends that ethnic groups’ distribution across industries alters the political allegiances of their members. When a group is concentrated in a growing industry, economic optimism and resources flow between coethnics, bolstering migrants’ confidence in their economic security and dissuading investments in local political incorporation. When a group is concentrated in a declining industry, these gains dissipate, leading migrants to integrate into out-groups with greater access to political rents. Analyses of immigrants near US coal mines in the early twentieth century support this theory. The article shows how ethnic groups’ distribution across industries shapes the evolution of group cleavages and illuminates how decarbonizing transitions away from fossil fuels may reshape identity conflicts.

The Making of an Ethnoburb: Studying Sub-ethnicities of the China-born New Immigrants in Albany, New Zealand.

Over more than three decades New Zealand (NZ) has abolished its racially-biased immigration policy and changed to select immigrants based on personal merits, since 1997 new Chinese immigrants from China have become the second-largest immigrant group in NZ. Reflecting the rapid changes in Mainland Chinese society, different waves of Chinese immigrants have arrived in NZ during the past three decades, each carrying distinctive characteristics. Despite the magnitude of this immigrant population both globally and in NZ, the subethnicities of these immigrants have never been conceptualised theoretically. Based on the digitally- enhanced research techniques together with ethnographically-based study, the paper aims to remedy this research gap in Chinese diaspora studies. Two theoretical concepts are used in this research. The first is the concept of sub-ethnicity which refers to finer boundaries drawn within an ethnic group by nationality, language, region of origin, class, or other distinctions. The second is the concept of ethnoburb - a model of ethnic settlement where the suburban ethnic communities and clusters of associated residential areas and business districts in large metropolitan cities are highly concentrated. This research considers these two concepts are correlated to each other since certain ethnoburb has particular attraction to certain sub-ethnic group; and vice versa, certain subethnic group intends to gather in same ethnoburb unintentionally or unconsciously. Applying these concepts, the research considers Albany as an example of a distinctive Chinese ethnoburb for the China-born new immigrants, especially for the most recent arrivals. The paper makes theoretical contribution to understand the complementarity between these two concepts and their methodological implementation towards studying new Chinese migration.

Chinese entrepreneurs and workers at the crossroad: the role of social networks in ethnic industrial clusters in Italy

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the evolution of Chinese industrial ethnic clusters in Italy, by focusing on the role of social networks and the processes behind the phenomenon of Chinese worker exploitation and entrepreneur “self-exploitation”.Design/methodology/approachThe case study is a sub-cluster of micro and small enterprises owned by Chinese entrepreneurs within the leather industrial district of Florence, Italy. This research adopts the following mixed methods: a small-scale survey to capture the characteristics of the sub-cluster and a social network analysis to describe cluster evolution, complemented by life-course interviews conducted with key informants and entrepreneurs.FindingsMigrant social capital and social networks play a central role in the evolution of the case study sub-cluster. Social networks play a supportive role in migration, job creation, entrepreneurship formation and the creation of business opportunities. Simultaneously, they enhance the phenomenon of worker exploitation and entrepreneur self-exploitation. Furthermore, the more the business community grows, the more the economic performance of ethnic enterprises depends on agglomeration forces produced by the cluster.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest a series of potential policies to upgrade the ethnic enterprises' capacities, to increase their formality and inclusion in the Italian social and economic systems and sub-cluster.Originality/valueTo the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first attempt to examine the evolution of social networks in relation to the phenomenon of Chinese worker exploitation and entrepreneur self-exploitation in an ethnic industrial sub-cluster.

Differences in prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection and genotypes between ethnic populations in Suriname, South America

Epidemiological data on hepatitis B virus (HBV) are needed to benchmark HBV elimination goals. We recently assessed prevalence of HBV infection and determinants in participants attending the Emergency Department in Paramaribo, Suriname, South America. Overall, 24.5% (95%CI = 22.7–26.4%) of participants had anti-Hepatitis B core antibodies, which was associated with older age (per year, adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] = 1.03, 95%CI = 1.02–1.04), Afro-Surinamese (aOR = 1.84, 95%CI = 1.52–2.19) and Javanese ethnicity (aOR = 1.63, 95%CI = 1.28–2.07, compared to the grand mean). 3.2% of participants were Hepatitis B surface Ag-positive, which was also associated with older age (per year, aOR = 1.02, 95%CI = 1.00–1.04), Javanese (aOR = 4.3, 95%CI = 2.66–6.95) and Afro-Surinamese ethnicity (aOR = 2.36, 95%CI = 1.51–3.71). Sex, nosocomial or culturally-related HBV transmission risk-factors were not associated with infection. Phylogenetic analysis revealed strong ethnic clustering: Indonesian subgenotype HBV/B3 among Javanese and African subgenotypes HBV/A1, HBV/QS-A3 and HBV/E among Afro-Surinamese. Testing for HBV during adulthood should be considered for individuals living in Suriname, specifically with Javanese and Afro-Surinamese ancestry.

중국동포의 삶에 영향을 끼치는 제도와 사회적 인식에 관한 연구: 중국동포 이주민 밀집지역을 중심으로

중국동포의 삶에 영향을 끼치는 제도와 사회적 인식에 관한 연구: 중국동포 이주민 밀집지역을 중심으로

Frequency of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Was Decreasing Among Hospitalized Patients From 2013 to 2017 in a National Database in China.

Backgrounds: Limited data was reported for the frequency of SLE in China. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency, geographical, and ethnic distributions of hospitalized SLE patients with data from the Hospital Quality Monitoring System (HQMS) in China.Methods: Hospitalized patients were investigated from a national inpatient database covering 46.0% of tertiary hospitals in China from 2013 to 2017. Data regarding the diagnosis of SLE were extracted based on ICD-10 codes. We collected and analyzed data from the front page of the records of inpatients, including frequency, demographic characteristics, and geographic distributions of SLE.Results: Among 158.3 million inpatients attended during the study period, 0.31% (491, 225) were diagnosed with SLE. The frequency of SLE decreased during the study period (from 0.30% in 2013 to 0.27% in 2017). The frequency of SLE increased with latitude (0.21% in northern China and 0.39% in southern China in 2017). Hospitalizations mostly occurred in winter (31.24%). The Li population had the highest frequency of patients with SLE (0.76%). The all-cause in-hospital mortality rate of SLE decreased from 0.74% (255/34,746) in 2013 to 0.54% (295/54,168) in 2017. The percentage of SLE patients with infections increased from 3.14% in 2013 to 4.72% in 2017. The percentage of SLE patients with tumors and thrombosis also increased slightly from 0.85 and 1.43% in 2013 to 1.27 and 2.45% in 2017, respectively.Conclusion: This study provided epidemiological information of SLE in hospitalized patients in China for the first time. An ethnic and spatial clustering trend of SLE was observed.

Organizational-economic mechanism for managing ethnic cluster in economic space of the region

At the current stage of social development, diversification of regional development is one of the central tasks for improving its socioeconomic efficiency. Therefore, it seems relevant to find “growth points” of regional development in both economic and social aspects. The ethno-economic segment plays an important role in the system of regional economy with regards to formation of strategies for optimization of the regulatory impact upon the process of regional development. The development of ethnic economy may positively affect self-organization of the regional economy, increase rationalization in the use of ethnic, natural and other resources. The research uses the example of Krasnodar Krai as a polyethnic region with ethnic resources that can be used to augment competitiveness of the region. The goal of this article is to analyze the importance of ethnic resource in the development of Krasnodar Krai as a polyethnic region, as well as work out the organizational-economic mechanism for managing ethnic cluster in order to use the recreational, natural, and cultural-historical potential of the ethnoses of Krasnodar Krai most efficiently. The scientific novelty consists in the development of organizational-economic mechanism for managing ethnic cluster in economic space of the region, which has an effective managerial impact upon the subjects of ethno-economic activity of the region. The article employs the methods of monographic analysis and systemic analysis. In the course of research, the authors determined the characteristics of ethnic cluster as an economic category; revealed that multi-sectoral orientation of functionality of ethnic cluster in Krasnodar Krai indicates the need for the development of organizational-economic management mechanism; characterized the activity of the subjects of regulation of ethnic cluster considering the management hierarchy; worked out the organizational-economic mechanism for managing ethnic cluster.

Research on Ethnic Original Ecological Music Clustering of MFCC Based on HHT

In view of the characteristics of ethnic original ecological music and the limitation of human ear’s understanding of hearing. This paper presents a MFCC feature extraction method based on HHT transformation. In this method, the ethnic original ecological music signals were decomposed into several inherent mode functions (IMFs) by EEMD and Hilbert transform, in which the Hilbert marginal spectrum of each IMF was used to complete the feature extraction of HHTMFCC through the MEL scale filter. The experiment collected 13 kinds of original ecological music of ethnic minorities in Yunnan. Based on the feature extraction results of HHTMFCC, Kmeans clustering analysis method was adopted to compare and analyze the clustering effect of HHTMFCC. The experimental results showed that the HHTMFCC feature was 0.49 higher than that of MFCC in the Purity index, 1.2 lower than that of Entropy index, and 3% higher than that of F index. The experimental results show that the HHTMFCC features extracted from ethnic original music are better than the traditional MFCC features.

Civic Engagement and Place Attachment of Immigrants in an Ethnic Cluster: Daerim-dong as a Case Study

본 연구는 외국인 밀집지(이하 ‘밀집지’) 내 지역 개선을 위한 이주자들의 시민행동의 요인과 효과, 장소애착심과의 관계를 규명하기 위해, 서울시 대림동 자율방범대 자원봉사자들의 경험에 대해 근거이론을 적용하여 분석하였다. 결과는 이주자로서의 특수성과 일반성을 동시에 보여준다. 먼저, 밀집지에 대한 긍정적 인지 및 개인 성향과 같은 일반적 요인 외에도, 이주자들의 경우에는 현지 적응과 민족공동체 의식과 같은 특수 요인이 장소애착심 및 시민행동을 위한 인과적 조건으로 작용한다. 또한 이주자 및 밀집지에 대한 현지의 부정적 여론이 이주자들의 지역봉사 동기를 자극하며, 그들의 사회관계망도 시민행동에 직접적인 영향을 준다. 이주자 시민행동은 개인적, 사회적, 환경적, 그리고 시민활동 자체의 발전을 견인하며, 이는 다시 장소애착심을 더욱 강화한다. 이로부터 우리는 이주자의 적응과 장소애착심 및 시민행동, 지역사회 개선이 서로 상승작용을 낼 수 있는 조건을 도출해 낼 수 있다.

Prevalence Pattern and Sociodemographic Correlates of Single Motherhood in Nigeria

The incidence of single motherhood, as an alternative family form, has been implicated in poor maternal and child health outcomes globally. In sub-Saharan Africa where these outcomes are poorest and where the global prevalence of single motherhood is the second highest, there is a paucity of studies on what drives single motherhood and how these drivers are influenced by variations at subnational levels. This study fills this gap in Nigeria. Data was extracted from the 2018 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey on 3029 single and 28,888 married mothers. Associations were established using chi-square and binary logistic regression analyses. Single mothers constituted 9.5% of the population and, contrary to global patterns, were wealthier, more educated, and experienced less intimate partner violence (IPV). The prevalence ranged from 2.9% in the North-West to 20.3% in the South-South region. Age, IPV, being a Fulani, Hausa or Yoruba, and Islam lowered the odds of single motherhood while urban residence, education, wealth, number of children, and age at first birth increased the likelihood (P < 0.001). The relationships varied significantly at the subnational level. Nigeria has one of the highest prevalence of single mothers in the world and the prevalence pattern and sociodemographic correlates vary among ethnic clusters. Policy Implication The findings are important for policies to increase the acceptance of plurality of family forms and end discrimination against single mothers. They also point to improving maternal healthcare services in rural areas, where the bulk of the single mothers reside, for improved maternal and child health outcomes.