[July 17, 2014]WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A record 57
million Americans, or 18.1 percent of the U.S. population, lived in
households with two or more generations in 2012, with young adults
leading the trend, a report said on Thursday.
The number of Americans living in multi-generational households
has doubled since 1980. The figure spiked during the 2007-2009
recession and has moved higher since then, the analysis by the Pew
Research Center said.
"The increase in multi-generational living since 2010 is apparent
across genders and among most racial and ethnic groups," the report
said.
About 24 percent of young adults, or those ages 25 to 34, lived in
multiple generation households in 2012, more than double the
percentage in 1980, the report said.
Historically, Americans over 85 are those most likely to be living
in households with more than one family generation. But they trail
young adults, at 23 percent.
Men are more likely than women to be living in multi-generational
households, at 26 percent to 21 percent, the report showed.
The higher percentage among men might be because their living
arrangements are more sensitive to job fluctuations than women's, it
said.
Young people living with parents or grandparents may be another sign
of delayed entry into adulthood, along with marrying later and
staying in school longer, the Pew report said.
Rising joblessness and falling wages among less-educated young
adults may be undercutting their ability to live away from their
parents. A 2011 Pew report showed that 2009, a quarter of the
jobless lived in multi-generational homes, compared with 16 percent
of those with jobs.
Racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to live in
multi-generational family arrangements. Today they make up 37
percent of the U.S. populations, almost twice the percentage in
1980.
The Pew report was based on Census Bureau data. It defines
multi-generational households as those with parents and children 25
or older, or with three or more generations, or grandparents living
with grandchildren.
