Assessing the effects of mortality reduction on population ageing

"This article presents a new method for decomposing age distribution changes into changes in the number of births and changes in age-specific rates of mortality and migration. The method is developed on the basis of the equation for the age-specific growth rate proposed by Horiuchi and Preston (1988). Using this method, it is shown that the increase in the proportion of women in Japan during 1970-1980 is mainly due to the reduction of mortality, particularly at old ages. The results lend support to the proposed idea that the pattern of age structure changes in developed countries is now shifting from fertility-dominated to mortality-dominated ageing." This is a revised version of a paper originally presented at the 1989 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America.

[Societies without men and the integration of women abroad: migration and female roles. The case of Italy]

"The role of women during the 'grande emigrazione' from Italy at the end of the century needs to be studied from two different angles. First it is necessary to identify what was preserved and what evolved in the societies that were left behind after the departure of the menfolk....Second, it is necessary to describe the role played by the women who emigrated abroad, and therefore to look at the conditions they met with in the foreign countries where they arrived alone, or as wives, daughters and mothers. These two aspects of the relationship between gender and migration are dealt with in this article, which reflects the current debate in Italy on the subject." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND SPA AND ITA)

[[Changes in the labor force in Taiwan: 1979-1990]]

"The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of age composition on labor force participation rate as well as the change in age-specific labor force participation rate for both males and females in Taiwan.... Data [are] obtained from the Taiwan Manpower Utilization Survey from 1979 to 1990. Results from the standardization analyses indicated that the age composition change from 1979 to 1990 has a leveling effect on the labor force participation rate (LFPR) for both males and females. During the period of time, rate of male labor force participation has...decreased while female labor force participation rate has...increased and then [leveled] off." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

American household structure in transition

The number of U.S. households rose by 58 percent between 1960 and 1983, with nontraditional household types accounting for most of the increase. Whereas the number of households containing married couples with children younger than 18 rose by only four percent over the period, one-parent households increased by 175 percent; one-person households, by 173 percent; and households composed of unmarried couples, by 331 percent. In 1983, households maintained by married couples constituted six in 10 U.S. households; the second most common household type--adults living alone--accounted for about one-quarter of all households. Lone parents living with their children represent nearly one in 10 households. Almost all of these parents are women--of whom two-thirds are separated or divorced, one-quarter have never been married, and fewer than one in 10 are widows. Among adults living alone, women aged 45 and older predominate; but the rate at which the practice has been adopted since 1960 has been greatest among those under age 45. Most of the growth in the number of one-person households occurred during the 1970s. The increase in cohabitation--most of it also in the 1970s--has similarly been concentrated in the younger age-groups. The living arrangements of children younger than 18 have changed accordingly over the two decades. Since 1960, the number of children living with two parents has declined by nearly one-fifth, and the number living with one parent--generally the mother--has more than doubled.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Spatial patterns of age-sex structures in Costa Rica: a study in demographic modernization

The relationship between economic development and demographic factors in Costa Rica is examined. "Specifically, the paper illustrates the evolution of spatial patterns in age-sex structures over three points in time for a single case study area." The authors suggest that there is order in the evolving patterns and that this order may be explained by the economic modernization process. Data are from the 1950, 1963, and 1973 censuses. Although some spatial order is indicated, the patterns are confused primarily by an increase in fertility that apparently occurred between 1950 and 1963.