The Facts about One Parent Families
How many lone parents?
- FACT: Census 2006 counted 189,213 one parent families - 162,496 lone mothers (86%)and 26,717 lone fathers (14%)
- FACT: Department of Social and Family Affairs data shows that in 2005 there were 80,366 lone parents receiving the One-Parent Family Payment
How much support?
- FACT: In 2007, a lone parent with one child, who is fully reliant on social welfare, receives €207.80 per week from the One-Parent Family Payment; an additional allowance of €22 per week is paid for each additional child.
- FACT: All parents in the State including lone parents receive €160.00 in child benefit per month for the first and second child and €195.00 per month for the third and subsequent children (from April 2007).
How many children?
- FACT: Almost 2 out of 3 one parent families (59%) have only one child; a quarter (26%) have two children
- FACT: In 2005, 131,165 children were living in one-parent families who depend on social welfare payments
How old are lone parents?
- FACT: Only 1.3% of lone parents receiving social welfare are under 20 years of age.
- FACT: 42% of One Parent Family recipients are aged between 20 and 29 years of age.
Lone parents and poverty
According to the Central Statistics Office:
- FACT: Almost one in three (27%) lone parent households were living in consistent poverty in 2005 - almost four times the rate for the population as a whole (7%)
- FACT: Four in every ten one parent families were at risk of poverty.
- FACT: One parent familes suffer very high levels of deprivation: 23.5% could not afford to buy new, rather than second-hand, clothes; 39.7% of households experienced debt problems arising from ordinary living expenses; 30.6% went without heating at some stage in the past year
Sources:
Central Statistics Office (2007) Census 2006 – Principal Demographic Results. Cork: Central Statistics Office.
Department of Social and Family Affairs (2006) Statistical Information on Social Welfare Services 2005. Dublin: Department of Social and Family Affairs
Central Statistics Office (2006) EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 2005 Cork: Central Statistics Office.
This page was updated on 7th June, 2007