Migration and household arrangements of rural families in China: Evidence from a survey in Anhui Province

The existing literature on household arrangement in rural-urban migration mostly focuses on floating families in cities. Given that circularity is an important feature of China's rural-urban migration, it is important to understand household arrangements from the perspective of rural families. Based on a household survey conducted in Anhui Province, this study develops a multidimensional typology of household arrangement and identifies the differences among these forms. Using a separation-circulation framework, six household types were identified as Rural-intact, Low-labour-outflow, High-labour-outflow, Trailing-and-circular, Trailing-and-alienated and Split-for-education. Rural families' household choices were found to be determined by not only economic benefits, but also family interdependence and obligations. Meanwhile, while the urban hukou remains the most important factor in pulling people out from villages, stable and high-paying jobs in hometown could encourage rural families to remain intact. The study highlights the importance of considering household splitting as a strategy of circular migration and its impacts on the development of rural areas. •Using a separation-circulation framework, this study examines the household splitting from the perspective of rural families.•Using Latent class analysis, six types of household arrangement for rural families are quantitatively identified.•Rural families' decision to split or not is associated with not only economic benefits, but also family interdependence and obligations.•While urban hukou remains the most important factor in pulling people out, stable and high-paying jobs in hometowns would encourage rural families to stay intact.