Data from the Family Budget Survey (IOF), released on Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), revealed that almost 20% of the 6.9 million households counted in Mozambique in 2022 had more than seven people.

At the end of last year, according to the study, the country had 6,909,016 households, each with an average number of 4.6 members. In this sense, a third of the households, 33%, had three to four members, 29.6% had five to six members, and 19.6% had more than seven members, while 17.8% had only one to two members.

"The size and age structure of the members of a household influence the household's consumption patterns. For example, the presence of children or elderly people in a household has important implications for the definition of the family's consumption priorities, particularly with regard to the allocation of resources for education and health," points out the IOF report, quoted by Lusa.

The study also points out that in each household a head was identified, an individual appointed by the household who "is the person responsible for day-to-day decisions in the household and their authority is recognized by the other members".

"In the country, 71 out of every 100 households are headed by men and only 29 are headed by women. On the other hand, 50% of households are headed by people under the age of 41," it reads.

The study estimates a total population of 31,615,255 in Mozambique, most of whom, 49.2%, are aged between 15 and 64, followed by the under-14s, 47.2%, and then the over-65s, with 3.6% of the total.

One of the indicators analyzed in the study is the employment rate or occupancy rate, which is the ratio between the population aged 15 and over who were employed in the reference period and the total working-age population (15 and over), which was estimated at 73.2%, equivalent to 11,389,792 people in 2022.

Meanwhile, agriculture, forestry and fishing continue to absorb around 75% of the employed population throughout the country, as in almost all the provinces more than 65% of the employed population carries out their economic activities in agriculture, forestry and fishing.