Are ‘statistical households’, as defined in national censuses, able to describe the family environment in Africa? Do they correspond to the family units that individuals identify with? To address this issue, we build on a follow-up survey in south-east Mali, which links national censuses with local censuses at the individual level (N ≈ 28,000 census observations). Three cross-sectional snapshots of family arrangements are compared: households recorded in national censuses, and family economic units and residential units recorded by local censuses. The national census household data appear poorly suited to documenting family living arrangements. They do not account for family economic units or residential units, but are highly conditioned by a normative representation centred on the nuclear family. Therefore, they fail to describe the complexity and diversity of people’s living spaces, making particular types of living arrangements invisible and increasing the likelihood of omitting individuals who do not fit into a nuclear model.

中文翻译：

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我们可以通过人口普查数据研究家庭环境吗？马里农村居民家庭，住宅和家庭单位的比较。

国家普查中定义的“统计家庭”是否能够描述非洲的家庭环境？它们是否与个人认同的家庭单元相对应？为了解决这个问题，我们在马里东南部开展了一项后续调查，该调查将国家普查与个人普查（N≈28,000普查）联系在一起。比较了家庭安排的三个横断面快照：在国家普查中记录的家庭，以及在当地普查中记录的家庭经济单位和居住单位。全国人口普查家庭数据似乎不适合记录家庭生活安排。它们不考虑家庭经济单位或居民单位，但受到以核心家庭为中心的规范代表的高度制约。因此，