Volume 32 - Article 42 | Pages 1147–1176  

Emerging, transitory or residual? One-person households in Viet Nam

By Christophe Guilmoto, Myriam de Loenzien

This article is part of the Special Collection 15 "Living Alone: One-person households in Asia"

Abstract

Background: The rise of one-person households in Viet Nam remains poorly documented, in spite of its significant growth since the 1990s and its relevance to the understanding of social and demographic change.

Objective: We aim to present a systematic analysis of the growing number of one-person households, interpret recent trends and describe the main characteristics of the population living alone.

Methods: Our research is drawn from the 2009 census. Cross-tabulations are followed by regression analysis modelling of the probability of living alone. A cluster analysis identifies the profiles of people in one-person households. Finally an in-depth analysis of the most vulnerable type of one-person households is done.

Results: Our analysis stresses the heterogeneity of the population living alone, in which we can identify four distinct profiles. The largest cluster is comprised of elderly widows and widowers. It arguably constitutes the most fragile population segment, as illustrated by several health and economic indicators. The second cluster comprises a more heterogeneous population, but only composed of persons who have not moved during the last five years. The third and fourth clusters are made up of migrants. Along with age, marital status tends to be the primary factor explaining the probability of a person living alone in Viet Nam. However, the rise in one-person households may be as much related to the gradual changes in marital status, illustrated by delayed marriage, as to the increase in mobility and the relative weakening of traditional family patterns.

Author's Affiliation

• Christophe Guilmoto - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), France EMAIL
• Myriam de Loenzien - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), France EMAIL

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Socioeconomic development and Chinese young adults’ propensity to live alone: An extended replication study
Volume 51 - Article 31    | Keywords: living alone, one-person households, socioeconomic development, young adults

KINMATRIX: A new data resource for studies of families and kinship
Volume 51 - Article 25    | Keywords: family, networks, solidarity, survey methodology, transmission

A multidimensional global migration model for use in cohort-component population projections
Volume 51 - Article 11    | Keywords: age dependency, education, international migration, migration, modelling, population projection, projections

Between money and intimacy: Brideprice, marriage, and women’s position in contemporary China
Volume 50 - Article 46    | Keywords: brideprice, China, divorce, family, family law, gender inequalities, marriage

Uncovering disability-free grandparenthood in Italy between 1998 and 2016 using gender-specific decomposition
Volume 50 - Article 42    | Keywords: aging, decomposition, disability, grandparenthood, Italy