As elsewhere in the Middle East, the Yemeni family is described as patrilineal, verilocal, and extended. This gloss is often inaccurate, but in the central highlands of the (former) Yemen Arab Republic, this family type represents both the cultural ideal and the social norm. Drawing on data from ten rural communities, this paper examines the convergence of family form and household composition. Recognizing that internal dynamics are probably central to household unity or division, five activities identified by Wilk and Netting (co-residence, production, transmission of property, reproduction, and distribution of resources) are discussed.

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Yemen rural population political system socioeconomics cultural factor Article human migration family life