WHAT ARE THE KEY FACTORS INFLUENCING HOUSEHOLD FORMATION AND CO-RESIDENCE PATTERNS? LEARNING FROM SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

Siegfried Gruber; Daniel-Armin Đumić

doi:10.2298/IJGI2403383G

Authors

Siegfried Gruber University of Graz, Institute of History, Graz https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5513-4020
Daniel-Armin Đumić University of Graz, Institute of History, Graz https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4752-2028

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2298/IJGI2403383G

Keywords:

households, marriage, co-residence, Southeastern Europe

Abstract

This paper revisits the mapping of household formation patterns and co-residence systems in Southeastern Europe (SEE) utilizing new historical microdata from censuses from Wallachia (1838), Bessarabia (1850), Serbia (1863), Montenegro (1879), and Albania (1918). While previous work has provided valuable insights, it was often based on a limited number of cases and focused primarily on joint families. It often excluded urban populations and did not utilize microdata or a life-course approach. This study presents updated maps that offer a more nuanced view of household structures in the region. The maps, based on individual-level data, reveal significant variation in marriage patterns, household formation, and co-residence across SEE, challenging earlier binary classifications of European household systems and highlighting the diversity within and beyond the Hajnal line. Nevertheless, major differences in household formation existed between Albania, Montenegro, and Serbia on the one hand and Wallachia and Bessarabia on the other hand. Marriage patterns did not have such clear spatial grouping.

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