Diversity and change in Cambodian households, 1998–2006

Abstract

Extant ethnographic studies suggest that the nuclear family has been the predominant living arrangement in Cambodia, and the country’s rapid socioeconomic transformation since the early 1990s may have accentuated that dominance. To examine these claims, we analyse here household structure in Cambodia between 1998 and 2006, based on data from the 1998 Census, two nationally-representative surveys (2000 and 2005), and a continuing demographic surveillance system (from 2000 on). Our analysis confirms the large prevalence of nuclear families, but not an unequivocal trend toward their increasing prevalence. First, nuclear families are less prevalent in urban than in rural areas, and nationwide, they appear to have receded slightly between 2000 and 2005. We find that increases in the prevalence of extended households correspond to periods of faster economic growth, and interpret these contrasted trends as signs of tensions during this transitional period in Cambodia. While the nuclear family may still be the cultural norm, a high degree of pragmatism is also evident in the acceptance of other living arrangements, albeit temporary, as required by economic opportunities and housing shortage in urban areas.

One-Parent Families in Contemporary Cambodia

“…As Demont and Heuveline (2008) before, we find living in a nuclear family to be the most prevalent childhood living arrangement in the Mekong River Valley of Cambodia (61.3%). We expect this to apply to Cambodia as a whole, even though nuclear households are actually less prevalent in the urban than in the rural areas of Cambodia.…”

“…With a substantially larger sample, our results confirm those of Demont and Heuveline (2008), especially the predominance of nuclear households in which live 61.3% of all children, and still 46.1% of those who co-reside with one of their biological parents. Another 23.3% of all children (34.4% of children co-residing with only one parent) live in multigenerational households with at least one parent and one grandparent.…”

“…We then document the living arrangements of children co-residing with a “lone parent,” that is, with only one of their two biological parents. Using data from the 1998 General Population Census (GPC), Demont and Heuveline (2008) showed that nuclear families were the most prevalent in Cambodia, and small anthropological studies suggested they had been for some time. We expected, however, that multigenerational family might provide more common living arrangements for children with lone parents so that grandparents could help their single children with the care of their grandchildren.…”

Everyday Politics of (In)formal Marital Dissolution in Cambodia and Indonesia

“…80: 3, 2015 (pp. 293-319) ambiguously defined, is on the rise (Demont & Heuveline 2008), recent statistical offerings at the national-level paint an incomplete picture with curiously low figures. Despite the 2008 General Population Census (NIS 2009) recording discrete figures for separation (0.1% males and 0.2% females) and divorce (0.8% males/3.1% females), it only has one category for 'married' (60.8% males/5.9% females) with no clarification given as to the customary or legal nature of the unions chronicled.…”

“…First, attempts at 'high modernism' through national-level demographic accounting do not tend to reflect the contemporary realities of many couples living in informal circumstances. Most quantitative academic studies on Cambodia and Indonesia rely upon the self-reporting of marital statuses in exercises and do not differentiate between informal and formal marriages (see for example Heuveline & Poch 2006;Demont & Heuveline 2008). Although a number of commentators in Cambodia have argued that the rate of divorce, ethnos, vol.…”