Marital Status and Crowding Intensity (The Case of Multifamily Apartments in Lagos, Nigeria)

Subject Areas : Urban Design

Anthony  Iweka ¹ (Ph.D., Lecturer, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Lagos, Akoka-Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria.)

Received: 2013-07-15 Accepted : 2013-09-23 Published : 2013-12-01

Keywords: Crowding, density, Dwelling density, Marital status, Household composition, Multifamily apartments,

Abstract :

In Nigeria, crowded housing is one of the housing stresses that bother policy-makers and housing authorities.This study examines the crowding levels in seven marital status categories among the occupants of Lagos State Development andProperty Corporation’s apartments. The focus is on the capacity of an apartment’s internal spaces to meet the sleeping needs ofhouseholds in different marital arrangements. A case study of four housing estates was purposively selected among Lagos StateDevelopment and Property Corporation’s multifamily categories, with a population of 7,764 apartments. A sample of 7.5% (582)was chosen using stratification and systematic random techniques. A pretested questionnaire instrument was used to collect therelevant demographic data of occupants. The occupants in different marital arrangements were grouped into three: households thatharboured one to two occupants; households that harboured three to five occupants; and households that harboured six or moreoccupants. The result shows that households containing three to five persons were the most dominant in all apartment types whilehouseholds that contain six or more persons were very few. Generally, the result showed no substantial disparity in the incidence ofcrowding among households of various marital classifications in different apartment types. The link between “Separated” and“Divorced” was revealed, as both types were not found among respondents living in two-bedroom apartments. The number ofoccupants in the “just single” and “married” categories were high compared to others. These results are significant for policiesregarding occupancy, crowding and design of Lagos State Development and Property Corporation’s apartments.