Families Around the World An Examination of Families from Different Places

China: The Wu Family The nine members of this extended family— father Wu Ba Jiu (59), mother Guo Yu Xian (57), their sons, daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren—live in a three-bedroom, 600- square-foot dwelling in rural Yunnan Province. While they have no telephone, they get news and images of a wider world through two radios and the family's most prized possession, a television. In the future, they hope to get one with a 30-inch screen as well as a VCR, a refrigerator, and drugs to combat diseases in the carp they raise in their ponds. Not included in the photo are their 100 mandarin trees, vegetable patch, and three pigs.

United States: The Skeen Family Rick and Pattie Skeen's 1,600-square-foot house lies on a cul-de-sac in Pearland, Texas, a suburb of Houston. The fire hydrant in this photo is real, but not working—a souvenir from Rick's days as a firefighter. Rick, 36, now splices cables for a phone company. Pattie, 34, teaches school at a Christian academy. To get the picture, photographers hoisted the family up in a cherry picker. Yet the image still leaves out a refrigerator-freezer, camcorder, woodworking tools, computer, glass butterfly collection, trampoline, fishing equipment, and the rifles Rick uses for deer hunting, among other things. Though rich with possessions, nothing is as important to the Skeens as their Bible. For this devoutly Baptist family, like many families around the world, it is a spiritual—rather than material—life that matters most.

Socioeconomic Indicators The socioeconomic indicators include poverty; undernourishment (as a marker of material deprivation); parental education and employment; and public family benefits. The proportion of relative poverty for children ranges from six to 33 percent, with the lowest rates found in Asia, Europe, and Oceania, and the highest rates found in South America. In the middle east, North America, Oceania, and Europe, less than five percent of the population is undernourished. in contrast, the highest levels of undernourishment are found in Africa, Asia, and South America. The lowest levels of parent education are found in Africa, followed by Asia, the middle east, and Central and South America. The highest levels are found in North America and Western Europe. Between 45 and 97 percent of parents are employed worldwide, with the highest parental employment rates found in Asia; consistently high rates are found in the middle east; medium-to- high rates are found in the Americas and Europe. public family benefits across countries represented in the organization for economic Cooperation and development (oeCd) range from 0.7 to 3.7 percent of gross domestic product (Gdp). The highest benefits are offered in Europe and Oceania, followed by Israel, North America, Asia, and then Chile.

SUPPORTING GRAPHS & CHARTS MARRIAGE AND COHABITATION, LIVING ARRANGEMENTS WITH PARENTS, CHILDREN LIVING WITH PROBABLE EXTENDED FAMILY DIFFERENCES IN READING LITERACY BY NUMBER OF PARENTS, PISA 2009 PARENTAL EDUCATION,

What We Like to Eat in China

What We Like to Eat in the US