How do changing vital rates influence kinship networks?

Sha Jiang , Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR)
Wenyun Zuo, Stanford University
Shripad Tuljapurkar, Stanford University

One's kinship network is an important information source in traditional societies, but has been affected by the large changes in vital rates during the demographic transition. We examine the combined effects of fertility and mortality change (in 1950, 1980 and 2010) by analyzing the kin of a focal individual ego in three countries (China, Japan and India). We find that the maximum expected number of aunts, siblings and cousins for an individual between ages 15 and 39 (demographically dense ages) decreased, but with different trajectories for different countries. We also find that the sum of maximum expected numbers of ego's mother and aunts (K1) is proportional to the net reproductive rate (R0) and the sum of maximum numbers of ego's siblings, first cousins and ego herself (K2) is proportional to the square of R0.

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 Presented in Session 59. Networks, exchange, and care