Children Living with Single Parent
Percentage of children under 18 living with a single parent. (Grandparents and other relatives, though they may play important roles, are not counted as parents in these data. Households where a biological parent has a live-in, unmarried partner are also counted as single-parent households. However, when a stepparent marries the biological parent and/or adopts the child, it is considered a two-parent household).
Why did we include this measure?
Single-parent households have less access to quality housing and schooling and are more unstable financially, which causes stress for parents and more frequent housing moves. Single parents also have less time and energy to spend with their children to provide emotional support, instill good habits, enforce rules, and help with homework. Perhaps for these reasons, growing up in a single-parent household is associated with a wide range of negative consequences during adolescence, including lower academic achievement, higher dropout rates, increased aggression in school, fewer social connections, risky behaviors (e.g., drug use), and a higher chance of teen pregnancy. When they become adults, these children tend to have lower incomes, higher rates of anxiety and depression, difficulty engaging in their own stable relationships (e.g., they have higher divorce rates), and increased rates of incarceration. Growing up with a single parent seems to be a particular problem for boys.
How does the US rank globally?
- Specific Measure: (Same as above.)
(Source: Author’s analysis of Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development data).
- Percentage of countries the US outperforms: 3% (out of 31 countries)
- International Rank Trend: Stable
National Trend Stable
What do the data show?
Setting aside the year-to-year changes, the trend has been fairly stable but is shaped like a hill. We saw rising rates of single-parent childhood in the 1990s and stayed at this level until the mid-2010s. This has been followed by a decline of three percentage points that offset the initial rise. For that reason, we now stand at almost exactly the same level as 1990. The three countries just above the US are Lithuania, Belgium, and France, while the top-ranked country (Turkey) has one-fourth the US percentage living with a single parent.
What might explain these patterns?
The rate of single-parent children has hovered in the 25‒28% range for 35 years. This relative stability may seem surprising given that the marriage rate has been in steady decline during this same period. However, birth rates are declining for both single and married women of childbearing age, so these cancel out in our measure of the share of children living with single parents. We note that some countries that do especially well on this measure also have more limited opportunities for women beyond motherhood.
For more information about data sources and treatments, download the Data Notes.