The number of people in a Chinese family home is getting smaller, with single-person households on the rise, according to an official report on family development on Wednesday.
Â
The average number of family members in a home declined to 3.02 in 2012 from 5.3 in the 1950s as a result of low birth rates, late marriage and population migration, said the report published by the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
Â
China has seen a rise in the number of smaller sized family homes.
Â
The amount of single-person households doubled from 2000 to 2010 while the figure for two-person families increased by 68Â percent in the same period, the report said.
Â
The two types accounted for 25 percent of total households in the country in 2000 while the proportion reached nearly 40Â percent, or a total of 160 million families, in 2010.
Â
The number of single-person households in cities increased 1.5 times from 2000 to 2010 while the figure in the countryside grew 40 percent in the same period, said the report.
Â
The report attributed the surge of single-person households to the increase in the population of unmarried people above the age of 30, 43.2 percent of whom live alone.
Â
A growing number of well-educated people now decide to marry at a later age because of their careers, the report said, adding that changing attitudes toward marriage also prompted many to stay single. Â