ABSTRACT
This chapter examines living arrangements of children in Africa and assesses their implications on schooling. A vast majority of literature points to changing living arrangements in Africa. While changes in living arrangements in Western societies occurred during the agricultural and industrial revolutions, changes in Africa took place in the absence of such revolutions, leading to various impacts on different population segments. AIDS-related adult mortality is still high in Africa and continues to have a significant influence on children's living arrangements. Since child fostering also occurs on a voluntary basis because of economic or social reasons, orphans are not the only children whose living arrangements have continued to change. Demographic changes, such as a decrease in fertility and mortality and an increasing rate of urbanization, also affect living arrangements. In sum, children's living arrangements are responsive to various social, economic, and cultural changes. Cohabitation and increasing divorce, parent's migration, and modernization also contribute to changing living arrangements.
