Estimation of household density in Isan rural community

Abstract

Residential settlement in Isan region is characterized as cluster. Population increase may increase household density in the residence area and may cause households to move out and reside in farm land . To check this hypothesis household density in residential areas must be known. However, this kind of tool or technique has not been developed to make it easy for application. Government statistics and available software developed by private sectors are used to develop the tool for this purpose. The technique developed was tested in 473 villages Khon Kaen province. Maximum household density was 12.48 HH/ rai (Rai; 6.25 rai equal to 1 hectare), minimum was 0.44 HH/ rai and the average was 2.48 HH/ rai. High household density level (>3.58 HH/rai)covered 54 villages, medium level (3.57 - 1.39 HH/rai) covered 283 villages and low level (1.38 HH/rai) covered 136 villages. This technique was acceptable by field checking with local community leaders in 35 villages.