Rates of Change in Norwegian Households 1974 - 77

Abstract

"The rates of transition between pairs of 18 types of households during the period 1974-77 are investigated for the women of the Norwegian Fertility Survey 1977. More than 80% of the women live in the 7 types of households called the main sequence of households because of its relation to a typical life course. The 7 types are single, cohabitation and married without children, and married with 1, 2, 3 or 4+ children. For these households number of children affects the rates more than age. The 11 types outside the main sequence are single parent households, cohabitation households with children and households with more than 2 adult persons. Multi-adult households recruit only from cohabitation households and seems to be a type of household on the increase. But the main thrust of the process of household formation going on between 1974 and 1977 supports the traditional family and the reproduction of the population to such a degree one has to question the impact of non-response in the data."