Effects of Global Household Proliferation on Ecosystem Services - Landscape Ecology for Sustainable Environment and Culture - page 101

95

90

85

80

75

70

1985-2000 2000-2030

Fig. 6.1 Percentages of countries with faster growth in household numbers than population sizes
(actual: 1985-2000, and projected: 2000-2030)

(Fig. 6.3 a). For example, Ukraine had a reduction of 1.8 million people but
an increase of 1.3 million households. Over the period of 2000-2030, it is
projected that 20 countries will experience lower population sizes but higher
household numbers (Fig. 6.3 b). Russia is projected to have the largest population
decline (approximately 21.2 million) but an increase of more than 10.3 million
households.
The differences in rates of growth in household numbers and population sizes
were due to reductions in household sizes (number of people per household), as a
result of such factors as increased nu divorces and declined multigeneration
families (Liu et al. 2003 ). If the average household size in 2000 (3.9 people per
household) had remained at the 1985 level (4.4 people per household), there would
have been 172 million fewer households in all countries combined by 2000. In
other words, there were 172 million ''extra'' households due to the decline in the
average household size alone. It is projected that household sizes will continue to
reduce during the period of 2000-2030 and there will be 756 million additional
households by 2030 due to reduction in household size alone (with an average
household size of 3.1 people per household).
While the discussion above focused on household proliferation at the global and
country levels, household proliferation is also common at the regional and local
levels. For example, in Wolong Nature Reserve of southwestern China for the
conservation of giant pandas, human population size rose from 2,560 in 1975 to
4,550 in 2005, while the number of households jumped from 421 to 1,156 during
the same period. In other words, the increase in the number of households was
more than twice (174.6 % increase) the increase in the number of people (77.7 %
increase). In many regions such as New Zealand (Liu et al. 2003 ), the numbers of
people declined, but the numbers of households continued to increase because
household sizes decreased (Liu et al. 2003 ).