Facts about Single Parent Families

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Facts about Single Parent Families

by PWP, International

Single parent households grew from five percent of all U.S. households in 1970 to nine percent of all U.S. households in 1990. This number, however, fails to account for the many single parents and their children who have moved into the homes of the youngsters grandparents or into the households of friends. (US Bureau of Census, herafter, BOC- 1990)

Single parent households with children under the age of 18 numbered 8.6 million in 1990. This is a 46 percent increase since 1980. Seven million were single parent families headed by a woman with 1.6 million single parent families headed by a man. (BOC-1990).

The number of single parent households headed by men have increased from 14 percent of all all single parent households in 1980 to 19 percent of all single parent households in 1990. (BOC1 990).

Of the seven million single parent households that are headed by a woman with children under the age of 18, 58 percent are white, 33 percent are African-American, two percent are Asian, and six percent are other races. (BOC-1990).

Out of the 5.7 million women who were due child support in 1989, only 50 percent of the women received full payment while 25 percent received nothing. (BOC-1990).

The average amount of child support received in 1989 amounted to $2,995 per child. (BOC-1990).

Forty-five percent of single parent families headed by a woman and 19 percent of single parent families headed by a man live in poverty, as compared to only eight percent of married couples with children under the age of 18. (BOC-1990).

Divorce accounts for 46 percent of all single parent households, 21 percent are due to marital separation, and seven percent are due to the death of a spouse. (BOC-1990)

Twenty-five percent of all births in the U.S. today are to unmarried mothers, an increase from 11 percent in 1970. (BOC-1990)

Between 1970 and 1991 the porportion of children in two-parent living arrangements declined from 85 percent to 72 percent while the proportion of children living with one parent has more than doubled, from 12 percent to 26 percent. (BOC-1991)

The largest proportional increase of any marital status category occurred among divorced persons. The number of currently divorced persons more than tripled from 4.3 million in 1970 to 15.8 million in 1991, representing nine percent of all adults ages 18 and over in 1991. (BOC-1991)

Between 1970 and 1991. the proportion of children in two-parent living arrancements ieclinei from 85 percent to 72 percent. while the proportion of children living with one parent more than doubled from 12 percent to 26 percent. (BOC-1991)

Sixty-one percent of all children will spend all or part of their formative years in a single parent household. (BOC- 1990)

Sixteen million children live with only one parent - this number has doubled since 1970. (BOC- 1990)

Twenty-six percent of all U.S. households that contain children under the age of 18 are single parent households. (BOC- 1990)

In 1991, the majority of children living with only one parent (88 percent) lived with their mother' although the proportion living with their father has grown in recent years. (BOC-1991)

Between 1970 and 1980, there was little or no change in the proportion of single parent children living with their father (from 9.1 percent to 8.5 percent), but since 1980, the proportion has now increased to 12.1 percent in 1991. (ElOC- 1991)

Children of divorce make up the largest share of one-parent children, 37 percent, followed by children born to a parent who had never married, 33 percent. (BOC-1991)

The proportion of one-parent children who lived with a married parent, whose spouse was absent (due to martial discord, or any other reason), was 24 percent, and the proportion living with a widowed parent was five percent. (BOC- 1991)

Among the 3.3 million grandchildren who live in their grandparent's home, 50 percent had only their mother presert and five percent had only their father present. (BOC-1991)

Married couples' weekly earnings ($783) continued to be about 25 percent higher than those of families maintained by men ($520) and twice as much as the earnings of families maintained by women ($385). (BOC-1991)

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