The predominant type of family at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century was the nuclear family, which consisted of direct relatives - parents and children.
The size of such families varied in different regions where the Kyrgyz lived. For instance, in the Pishpek district in 1912-1913, the average family size was 5.6 people of both sexes (Materials... 1913. p. 284), in the Namangan district - 5.5 (Materials... 1913. p. 90), in the Andijan district - 5.9 (Materials... 1913. p. 90), in the Osh, Skobelev, and Kokand districts - 5.9 people (Materials... 1915. p. 108), and in the Margilan Ala - 5.6 (Pokrovsky, Stogov, 1914. p. 94). Thus, the average family size was 5.6 people, but it strongly depended on material well-being, fluctuating from 10 to 20 or more in prosperous households.
This size was determined not only by the presence of a large number of livestock but also by the polygamy of its head and a lower child mortality rate compared to the poor.
A variation was the so-called extended or undivided family. In it lived one or both parents of the husband or some close relatives on the male line. A common feature of families among many other peoples of Central Asia and Kazakhstan is that in the family of a daughter, her parents almost never lived, only in exceptionally rare cases. In this regard, there is a saying: "Kyzdyn teruie oturguchu, uuldyn keregesine otur" ("Rather than sitting in a place of honor at a daughter's house, it's better to sit at the threshold of a son's"). It was also rare for a married couple to live in the house of the wife's parents. In this case, the husband was derogatorily referred to as kuch kuyo – primak.
In undivided families, along with parents and children, representatives of the older generation lived, including the parents, brothers of the head of the family, and grandchildren. The temporary or permanent residence of relatives on the male line, maternal nephews of the head of the family – zheën, etc., was also not excluded.
Family and Kinship Groups of the Kyrgyz