- Around 90 per cent of single parents are women; the proportion who are men has remained at around 10 per cent for over a decade (i)
- Less than one per cent of single parents are teenagers (aged 16-19 years) (ii)
- The average age of a single parent is around 39 years; single mothers tend to be younger than single fathers on average (38 years compared with 45 years old, respectively) (iii)
- Slightly less than half – 44 per cent – of single parents had their children within marriage; that is, they are married/in a civil partnership, separated, divorced or a surviving partner (iv)
- Single fathers are more than three times as likely to be widowed than single mothers (7 per cent compared with 2 per cent) (v)
- 21 per cent of single parents are from a Black or minority ethnic background (including those of other White origin, apart from White British), compared with 16 per cent nationally (vi)
- 28 per cent of single parents have a disability, compared with 14 per cent of couple parents (vii)
References
i. ONS (2019) Families and households. Table 1.
ii. Gingerbread analysis of Labour Force Survey (January-March 2019).
iii. See ii.
iv. See ii.
v. See ii.
vi. ONS (2013) Census 2011, Table DC1201EW.
vii. See ii.