Assessment of Household Size and Composition Patterns in Katsina State

Household size and composition reflect fertility levels, living arrangements, and economic interdependencies, and their systematic documentation in Katsina State provides a demographic baseline for social policy planning in North West Nigeria. This study assessed household size, composition, and headship patterns in Kankara, Funtua, and Dandume Local Government Areas, Katsina State. A cross-sectional survey of 300 household heads collected data on household size, extended family presence, age and sex composition, headship type, income-sharing, and ideal family size perceptions. Mean household size was 8.4 persons, above the national rural average. Extended household composition was present in 61.3 percent of households. Polygamous households showed the highest mean size at 12.7 persons. The proportion of households with five or more children under 15 was 48.7 percent, indicating high child dependency. Ideal family size of 8 to 10 children was preferred by 58.7 percent of male household heads. Recommendations include community-based family life education incorporating demographic consequences of large family size, family planning messaging in schools, and household composition data use in infrastructure planning for Katsina State.

Keywords: household size, household composition, Katsina State, family structure, demographic patterns These findings confirm that family size education, school-based family planning messaging, and household data systems are priority investments for Katsina State planning.