Increase in the number of households in China

Increase in the number of households in China

Description:

Despite a fall in population growth rate, the number of Chinese is projected to reach almost 1.5 billion by 2030. The projected drop in household size to 2.2 people by the year 2030 alone will add over 250 million new households — more than the total in the entire Western Hemisphere in 2000 — even if China’s population size remained constant. The number of China’s households grew almost three times as fast as its population during 1985–2000, because average household size decreased from 4.5 to 3.5 people. This alone gave China an extra 80 million households in 2000.

The increase in household size has severe implications for China's energy consumption and its subsequent affect on the environment.

Enablers:

1. Increase in divorce rates: Divorces have increased sharply owing to simplified divorce procedures and wider societal acceptance of divorce. In 2004, more than 1.6 million couples filed for divorce, up 21% from 2003. Divorces hurt the environment because they double the number of households and reduce the household size, increasing per capita resource consumption and waste.
2. Decline in the instances where several generation live under one roof: There has been a decline in the number of households where several generations live under one roof. Many older people now live alone, rather than with their children and grandchildren.
3. Increased affluence: More and more people no longer need to share their house with others in order to be able to afford the rent/mortgage.
4. Increased urbanization:
5. Government support for home ownership: The Chinese government has been providing residents with easier credit access and tax breaks in order to encourage home ownership.

Paradigms:

Because smaller households consume more resources per person, China’s rapid increase in household number and reduction in household size have had significant environmental consequences.

Biodiversity: Household dynamics influence per capita consumption and thus biodiversity through, for example, consumption of wood for fuel, habitat alteration for home building and associated activities and greenhouse gas emissions. Growth in household numbers globally, and particularly in countries with biodiversity hotspots (areas rich in endemic species and threatened by human activities), was more rapid than aggregate population growth between 1985 and 2000. Even when population size declined, the number of households increased substantially. Reduction in average household size alone will add a projected 233 million additional households to hotspot countries during the period 2000–15. Rapid increase in household numbers, often manifested as urban sprawl, and resultant higher per capita resource consumption in smaller households pose serious challenges to biodiversity conservation. (Liu, Daily, Ehrlich, & Luck 2003)

Timing:

• Affordable housing programmes were introduced on the mainland in 1998 and modelled on public schemes in Hong Kong.

Web Resources:

1. Liu, Daily, Ehrlich, Luck. (2003). Effects of household dynamics on resource consumption and biodiversity.
2. Li, R.. (2008). South China Morning Post. Xiamen unveils scheme to boost affordable housing programme.