SPATIO-TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF FAMILY TRANSFORMATION IN BENUE STATE NIGER

The study reports the spatio-temporal dimension of family transformation in Benue State. The demographic and socio-economic information of respondents showed interesting facts. With regards to sex 62% of the households were headed by males while 38% were headed by females. With respect to age majority of the household heads were adult and aged. Tiv and Idoma constitute the dominant tribes in the study area accounting for 53% and 24% respectively. In terms of religion and denomination 95% were Christian among whom 55% were Catholics. With regards to level of education 37% have only primary and 18% are without formal education. Most (62%) of the household heads were married in terms of marital status across the selected Local Governments. 55% of the respondents were farmers characterized by low income with about 34% having no fixed income and only 28% from the total population earning income above national minimum wage. 65% are having a household size beyond the national average. In terms of types of family transformation the findings show the reality of family transformation as rated based on respondents views across the six selected LGAs.