Household and Living Arrangement Projections

This insightful book explores the ProFamy method for projecting household structures and living arrangements, focusing on the U.S. and China.

The book Household and Living Arrangement Projections introduces the ProFamy extended cohort-component method, a groundbreaking demographic toolkit designed for projecting household structures and living arrangements. This innovative approach is applied to empirical data from the United States, the largest developed nation, and China, the largest developing nation, making it relevant for a wide range of demographic studies. The ProFamy method utilizes demographic rates as inputs to provide detailed distributions of household types and sizes, as well as the living arrangements of all household members, categorized by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and urban/rural residence at various geographic levels.

In addition to projecting household structures, the ProFamy method addresses critical issues such as elderly care needs, pension deficits, and household consumption patterns. Unlike traditional headship rate methods, which offer limited insights by focusing solely on household heads, the ProFamy approach provides a more comprehensive view of household dynamics. The book is structured into four parts: the first part covers methodology, data, estimation issues, and empirical assessments, while subsequent sections delve into applications within the United States and China, focusing on demographic, social, economic, and policy analyses.

The final part includes a user’s guide for the ProFamy software, equipping researchers, analysts, and students with the tools needed to project household compositions and living arrangements effectively. Household and Living Arrangement Projections serves as an invaluable resource for those engaged in understanding the complexities of population and consumption patterns in contemporary society.