Fertility decline drives smaller Jamaican households, survey finds

Jamaica’s average household size continues to decline, driven largely by a reduction in fertility rates, the latest survey of living conditions has revealed.

The 2023 survey, conducted by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) and the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), found that the average household size in Jamaica is 2.6 persons, down from three people in 2017.

The report attributes this decline primarily to a drop in the average number of children per household, which fell from 0.5 in 2017 to 0.8 in 2023.

In contrast, the average number of adult males and adult females did not change over the period, one adult male and 1.1 adult females, compared with 1.1 and 1.2, respectively, in 2017.

The survey sampled 4,442 individuals across 1,719 households.

It also highlighted a notable shift towards smaller household units.

Single-person households increased from 29 per cent in 2017 to 35.3 per cent in 2023, while the proportion with four or more members declined from 33.6 per cent to 24.4 per cent.

Among households headed by men, 44 per cent consisted of a single occupant, 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.

The survey also examined the household composition for the presence of a spouse and or children.

It found that nearly one-half of both male- and female-headed households had no spouse or children present.

However, for 36.7 per cent of female-headed households, the common feature after this was having at least one child and no spouse, while for male-headed households, it was the presence of a spouse and no children at 26 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.

- Sashana Small

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