THE declining birth rate problem being experienced by Jamaica, which has led to what experts describe as an ageing population, is being compounded by a growth in single-person households.

This is according to the 2023 edition of the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (JSLC), a publication of the Planning Institute of Jamaica and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (Statin).

The survey has tracked the decline in the average size of the Jamaican household since 2017, stating that it was “clear when examined over the five data points” since then.

“The mean household size was 2.6, down from 3.0 in 2017. This was influenced mainly by a decline in the mean number of children in the household to 0.5 from 0.8, as the average number of adult males and adult females did not change over the period (1.0 adult male and 1.1 adult females, compared with 1.1 and 1.2, respectively, in 2017),” said the survey.

Of all households, the proportion with one member has increased to 35.3 per cent from 29.0 per cent in 2017, while the proportion with four or more members has fallen, declining from 33.6 per cent to 24.4 per cent during the period.

The proportion of male-headed households that had one member was 44.0 per cent, an increase of 5.1 percentage points relative to 2017; while the proportion of female-headed households that had one member was 25.5 per cent, an increase of 8.5 percentage points.

According to the survey, household composition was examined for presence of a spouse and or children.

“Near one-half of both male-and-female-headed households had no spouse or children present,” it found.

The next most common feature was the presence of at least one child and no spouse (36.7 per cent); while for male-headed households, it was the presence of a spouse and no children (26.0 per cent).

Of all male-headed households, 44.2 per cent had a resident spouse, compared with 12.6 per cent of female-headed households with a resident spouse. A larger proportion of female-headed households — 41.9 per cent — had at least one child present compared with 20.8 per cent of male-headed households.

Based on the survey, some household characteristics remained distinct by socio-economic status. Households in the poorest quintile had the largest average size at 3.7, the largest mean number of children — 1.1 — were mainly headed by females (52.9 per cent), and resided in rural areas (61.5 per cent).

Quintile 5 households were the smallest in average size at 1.8, had the lowest average number of children — 0.2 — were headed by males (58.2 per cent), and the largest share lived in the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Region (50.7 per cent).