Intergenerational Families in Developing Countries

ABSTRACT: We use newly-available census microdata from IPUMS-International to assess trends in intergenerational coresidence in 15 developing countries. Contrary to expectations, we find no general decline in intergenerational coresidence over the past several decades. There have been, however, substantial changes in the /configuration/ of intergenerational coresidence. Families in which the older generation is household head—a configuration consistent with traditional patriarchal forms in which the older generation retains authority—are becoming more common in most of the countries. Dependent-parent families—the configuration one would expect if intergenerational coresidence were motivated by a need for old-age support—are on the decline in most of the countries. Multivariate analysis reveals that intergenerational coresidence is positively associated with measures of economic development. These findings are substantially at variance with widely-accepted social theory. We hypothesize that in some developing countries rising incomes have allowed more people to achieve their preferred family structure of intergenerational coresidence following traditional family forms.