With the rise in divorce rates, the increase in one-person households and other trends, is the traditional nuclear family losing its dominant status in Asia?

SINGAPORE: Idealised models of family they still may be, but the Asian nuclear or multi-generation family is increasingly giving way to more variations, such as one-person households. And this, say academics, has implications for society and policy-makers. Last month, it was revealed that marriage dissolutions in Singapore in 2015 were up by 2. 9 per cent. It is not the only Asian country facing rising divorce rates. China recently reported that more than 3. 8 million couples split up in 2015, a 5. 6 percent increase. In South Korea divorces are at a record high among older people who have been married for more than 20 years. Divorces, as well as the growing number of people delaying or rejecting marriage, are contributing to another phenomenon: The surge in single-person households. In India, the number of such households grew from 6. 8 million in 2001 to 9. 04 million in 2011 – an increase of 33 per cent. The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs reports that there are 5. 06 million in the country as of 2015, dramatically up from just 661, 000 thirty years ago. They now comprise 27 per cent of all households. And in Singapore, they made up 11. 2 per cent of households in 2014 – a ratio that could hit 40 per cent in roughly 15 years’ time, according to the 2011 Future of Families To 2030 report. These are just some of the demographic changes captured by statistics. And they pose challenges for societies that have long predicted policies, social values and the burden of care on the basis of the nuclear family model. NUCLEAR FAMILY AND CHANGING VALUES Questioning the stereotype of the “traditional” Asian family, Assistant Professor of sociology Indira Arumugam from the National University of Singapore noted: “Even in Singapore, we have had, and continue to have, a plethora of family forms - extended families, nuclear households, heterosexual couples with no children, singles, same-sex families, single-parent households, sworn sister-hoods, friends and so forth. ” Even so, nuclear families still remain the norm across most of Asia. In Singapore, nuclear and three-generation families make up nearly 59 per cent of households. But they are coming under various stresses. A recent ground-breaking Channel NewsAsia series, The Family Affair, explored how four such families in China, India, South Korea and Singapore dealt with issues ranging from the cost of living, to inter- generational tensions. For example, 27-year-old Niraj Sharan from Delhi, India rails against his family’s efforts to get him married. He would rather focus on his business ambitions – opening a restaurant. He is symptomatic of how education, opportunities and shifting values are moving more young Asians to put off marriage, or even reject the idea altogether. Sociology professor JP Singh, former Pro- Vice Chancellor of Patna University in Delhi, India, observed: “The youths of today are enjoying much greater independence than their parents could have when they were in their age-group. ” Also becoming a thing of the past is the obligation to remain together under one roof, as individuals move out in search of greener pastures. Their mobility is enabled by high-speed transport, such as bullet trains, and digital technology – with apps like Skype, WeChat and WhatsApp, families can stay in touch even if they don’t live together. LIVING ALONE IN ASIA But independence isn’t just a thing sought by the young. “The general assumption is that it’s the younger generations that are unwilling or unable to live with their ageing parents, ” said Harvard University’s Paul Y Chang, an assistant professor of sociology, on families in South Korea. “What’s surprising, however, is a growing trend where the senior citizens also do not want to live with their children and grandchildren. ” Increasingly, Dr Chang notes, older generations are becoming more independent and reluctant to help take care of their grandchildren. Take Madam Li Shuqing, a 70-year-old grandmother in Beijing who divides her time between staying with her daughter’s family to care for granddaughter Dou Dou – and living happily on her own, going where the fancy takes her (she has visited seven countries in seven months, from Turkey to South Africa). “I feel torn, ” she confesses on The Family Affair, about the times that she stays over at her daughter’s place. She feels freer on her own. “To be honest, it’s quite tiring being here. ” Her frustrations include her clashes with her son-in-law, An Yu, over how he is raising her granddaughter with too little time to play and make friends. The net result of this increasing desire for independence, changing priorities, later marriage and growing break-up rate, is the rise of the single-person household and shrinking family sizes. South Korea has one of the highest numbers of single-persons households in Asia. “It is fairly clear that rising divorce rates are leading to an increase in the number of single-parent families, ” said Dr Chang. While a “second-marriage market” is emerging among divorcees, he added, there is still a “significant number of divorcees who do not remarry, or do not remarry right away”. As for China, national radio reports that there are now more than 58 million single- person households across the country. At the same time, families are becoming smaller. The average Chinese household in 1990 had 3. 5 people, and in 2014 it was 2. 97. This has been attributed to the one-child policy (which the government has said it will relax), and more people leaving their families in the countryside to work in the cities. South Korea, too, has seen the average household size shrink from 4. 54 in 1980, to 2. 7. Meanwhile in Singapore, the proportion of one-generation households - a married couple without co-residing children - rose from 10. 6 per cent in 2000, to 14. 4 per cent in 2014. IMPLICATIONS FOR GREYING SOCIETIES As populations age, the greater presence of single-person households means a larger number of older people in Asia living alone, possibly lacking direct family support. Smaller family sizes also mean weaker family support for the elderly. The case of China is well-known. Decades of the one-child policy has resulted in the majority not having siblings to rely on while the full responsibility for parental (and grandparental) care falls on the shoulders of that one child. What all this means, say experts, is that more provisions will have to be made by governments in Asia to ensure the well- being and support of a growing elderly populace – be it in housing planning or healthcare. (Come 2050, more than 30 percent of China’s population is projected to consist of senior citizens over the age of 60. ) Caregiving also places a tough burden even on multi-generation families. In The Family Affair, that onus falls on Lee Hana, whose husband is the oldest son in his Korean family. Faced with the prospect of having to take care of not just her husband’s 97-year-old grandmother but also his ailing parents, she is close to breaking point – walking away completely. “He is too filial. Excessively so, ” she says tearfully. MOVE TOWARDS LESS STIGMA? Aging issues aside, the increase in non- traditional nuclear households also challenges both societal norms, as well as policies (such as the distribution of benefits) that are predicated on the nuclear family unit. NUS’ Dr Arumugam hopes there “would be less stigma attached to non-mainstream family forms”. “I would want there to be equal respect and value attached to people no matter what types of family arrangements they are from or choose to form, ” she added. In July 2015, Singapore’s Minister Tan Chuan Jin, then newly-appointed to the Social and Family Development portfolio, noted that changing family structures meant the need for the Government to tweak future policies, and perhaps expand the definition of what a family means. “My sense is that children, siblings, nephews and nieces… I think we can look into that space (in terms of care giving), ” Mr Tan had said. While the Singapore Government maintains its long-standing approach that policies should support and encourage parenthood within the context of marriage, it recently announced the move to reduce the disadvantages that children of unwed mothers face at birth. Nonetheless, experts believe the importance of family will endure, even as family forms and structures diversify. “The range of (family) arrangements have diversified and will continue to be increasingly so, ” said Dr Anuja Agarwal, a sociologist with the University of Delhi. But “I do not see the importance of family declining in the near future. ” What some do hope for, is a tweak in the roles within the nuclear family itself. Said Professor Arumugam: “I hope family roles are re-negotiated towards greater equality between the sexes in terms of caring arrangements. The burden still falls largely on women. ”