Changes in Chinese families

First of all, the family pattern in China is undergoing major changes.

In recent decades, the rapid demographic transition and drastic social changes have continuously affected the family development in China. Although this has become a kind of social knowledge, it is still difficult to describe this change systematically and scientifically. There are not only theoretical differences, but also the lack of quantitative data in family research. Family relationship is based on marital blood, but it may be separated in space. From a practical point of view, "household" is largely regarded as a representative or similar indicator of the family, and the census provides the most basic data. Based on the census data of 1982-20 10, this paper analyzes the main trends of family changes in China in the past 40 years.

1, family size miniaturization and structure simplification

The number of families in China has grown rapidly, from 280 million in 1990 to nearly 450 million at present, which is obviously higher than the population growth. In the past 40 years, the family size has been decreasing, from 4.4 1 person per household in 1982 to 3.09 persons per household in 20 10, with an average decrease of 1.32 persons per household. 1982 The proportion of families with five or more people was still close to half, but the proportion of families with 1-3 people rose rapidly from 1990 and reached 65% in 20 10. The shrinking trend of family size tends to converge in urban and rural areas, and the contraction is relatively rapid, and the extended family is rapidly disappearing. In contemporary China, only the first generation households and the second generation households are the main body of the family. The family structure in China has been further simplified, and the number of family generations is decreasing.

As far as the specific structural types are concerned, although the nuclear family is still the main form of families in China, with the large increase of single-family families and the long-term stability of the proportion of large-family families, the basic pattern of family structure in China has changed from 1982-2000 "the nuclear family is the mainstay, the large family is the second, and the single family is the supplement" to "the core" in 2000-20 10.

The first generation nuclear families include married childless families and empty nest families of middle-aged and elderly people, while the second generation standard nuclear families include couples and unmarried children. According to previous census data, the proportion of families in the former increased rapidly, while the latter decreased the most. The decline in the number of second-generation nuclear families is mainly due to the large increase in single-person families and husband-and-wife nuclear families, and is also affected by the one-child policy. All these indicate that in the process of population transformation and social transformation in China, with the persistence of low fertility rate, the promotion of urbanization, the improvement of housing conditions and the change of family concept, more and more large families "split" into small families.

Large families still account for a large proportion, especially the it runs in the family family is the most stable family type in China, which has remained between 1982-20 10 and 16.4- 16.7%. However, there are essential differences between the present it runs in the family family and the traditional it runs in the family family. The most important point is that "* * * life has no * * * wealth", which will directly or indirectly affect the changes in family patterns and functions.

2. Family aging and lifestyle changes.

The aging of population has become the norm in modern society. In this context, the phenomenon of "aging" of Chinese families is also intensifying, which is mainly manifested in the increase in the proportion of families with elderly people and the increase in the proportion of middle-aged and elderly people in families. According to the data of the Sixth Census, in 20 10, the number of elderly families aged 60 and over in Chinese mainland was1230,000 and 880.36 million respectively, accounting for 30.6% and 2 1.9% of all families. Among them, about two-thirds of families have 1 elderly, but the growth trend of many elderly families is obviously faster than that of unit elderly families. Not only that, there are nearly 30 million "pure old families" (families composed entirely of the elderly), and the number of pure old families with three or more people is also increasing, mainly in rural areas.

From the perspective of a single family, the average number of elderly people in 1982-2000 was stable at 0.22-0.24, with little change, but it increased sharply to 0.4 1 in 20 10. However, at the same time, the number of children in each family dropped sharply from 1.48 in 1982 to 0.5 1 in 20 10, and there were almost 1 children in each family on average.