Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

Figure 2.2 Distribution of De Facto HouseholdPopulation by Five-Year Age Groups and SexPercent2015105 00-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80+Age groupMaleFemaleZDHS 2001-20022.2 HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITIONInformation about the composition of households,specifically the sex of the head of the household and sizeof the household, is presented in Table 2.2. Thesecharacteristics are important because they are associatedwith aspects of household welfare. Female-headedhouseholds are, for example, typically poorer than maleheadedhouseholds. Where households are large, there isgenerally greater crowding, which is associated withunfavourable health conditions. The proportion of femaleheadedhouseholds increased from 1992 (13 percent) to1996 (20 percent) and has remained the same since 1996.In the 2001-2002 ZDHS, the average householdsize was 5.2 persons, compared with 5.4 persons in the1996 ZDHS and 5.6 persons in the 1992 ZDHS. Thisshows a modest decline over the period. Table 2.2 furthershows that the average household size is larger in urbanareas (5.5 persons) than in rural areas (5.1 persons). Theproportion of households with more than nine persons ishigher in urban areas (14 percent) than in rural areas(10 percent).Table 2.2 Household compositionPercent distribution of households by sex of head ofhousehold and by household size, according to residence,Zambia 2001-2002ResidenceCharacteristic Urban Rural TotalSex of head of householdMale 79.8 76.1 77.4Female 20.2 23.9 22.6Total 100.0 100.0 100.0Number of usual members1 5.9 6.8 6.52 8.4 9.6 9.23 12.0 13.2 12.84 13.7 15.8 15.15 14.0 14.9 14.66 13.8 12.9 13.27 10.1 9.7 9.88 8.4 7.1 7.59+ 13.8 10.0 11.3Total 100.0 100.0 100.0Number of households 2,437 4,689 7,126Mean size 5.5 5.1 5.2Note: Table is based on de jure members, i.e., usual residents.Characteristics of Households and Respondents | 13