Determinants of Household Size in Townships of Iran in 2011

In recent years, household size has undergone a plunging trend. Social, economic, cultural and structural changes in society affected household size through proximate determinates such as the age of marriage, marital patterns, fertility, mortality, divorce, and widowhood. The primary purpose of this research is to determine the proximate and socioeconomic factors of the household size determinants. This research has been performed by using the data from census in 396 townships of Iran in 2011. Among the Iranian townships, the average household size changed from 4.8 members in 1996 to 3.5 members in 2011. Also, the average household size varies considerably between the privacies of the country, from 6.6 in the province of Kangan to 2.9 in the province of Taleghan. Path analysis shows that fertility reduction is one of the most critical factors in reducing the size of the household. The average age of marriage decreased somewhat after fertility control. Fertility, the average age of marriage and unemployment have a direct relationship with household size. On the other hand, the indicators of modernization and employment of women have an inverse relationship with household size. Fertility has the most positive association (β = 0.61) and modernization has the most inverse association (β = 0.41) with household size.