1. Census 2006
2. CSO Vital Statistics
3. The Adoption Authority of Ireland
4. The Department of Social Protection
5. EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) data 2008

Census 2006

Unmarried Parents

Census data indicates that there were approximately 563,513 family units with children under 19 in 2006. Of these:

(It must be borne in mind that the more precise family coding allowed by the revised relationship question used in the 2006 census has contributed to this increase).

Cohabiting Families

Cohabiting couples with children represented 7.5% (42,363) of all couples with children under 19 in 2006 (563,514).

The number of children living with cohabiting parents increased from 51,700 in 2002 to 74,500 in 2006.

Of the 44,000 cohabiting couples with children 68% were never married.

CSO Vital Statistics

Births Outside Marriage

There were 24,532 births registered as outside marriage in 2009. This accounted for 33% of all births, a decrease of 0.1% on 2008.

The highest percentage of births outside marriage occurred in Limerick City at 49%, while the lowest percentage was 23%, which occurred in both Galway County and Leitrim.

Births outside Marriage by age of Mother

More than 67% of births outside marriage in 2009 were to women aged 30 years and under.

Births to women outside marriage by age of Mother

Births to women under 20 by age of Mother 2000-2009.

A total of 2,223 teenagers had babies outside marriage in 2009. 201 of these births were to mothers aged 16 or under.

Fertility rates for women under 20, 2000-2009

The fertility rate is the number of live births per 1000 women under 20

The Adoption Authority of Ireland

Adoption orders and Family Adoptions

*Adoption by family members, usually mother and her husband

The Department of Social Protection

One Parent Family Payment

One-Parent Family Payment (OPFP) is a payment for men and women who are bringing up a child without the support of a partner. In 2008, 87,840 people were receiving one parent family payment. Of these, 69,404 (79%) people were unmarried. This represented an increase of 2,630 unmarried persons receiving this payment from 2007.

EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) data 2008

The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) in Ireland is a household survey covering a broad range of issues in relation to income and living conditions. It is the official source of data on household and individual income and also provides a number of key national poverty indicators such as the at risk of poverty rate and the consistent poverty rate.

The EU-SILC figures for 2008 show that one parent families continue to experience a disproportionate level of poverty. It is important to note that one parent families in the context of the EU-SILC data refers to parents who are divorced separated, widowed and parents who have never been married.

Risk of poverty

• Lone parent households continued to be the household type with the highest at risk of poverty rate with a rate of 36.4% being recorded for individuals in these households.
• This is despite the fact that persons living in lone parent households (+22.0%) along with households in which the head of household was unemployed (+25.2%) reporting the biggest increases in their income between 2007 and 2008.
• While they represent just 6.1% of the population, people in lone parent households make up 17.5% of the people at risk of poverty.
• Children remained the most at risk age group in 2008 with an at risk of poverty rate of 18%, a decrease of 1.9 percentage points from 2007.

Deprivation

• Lone parent households reported the highest levels of deprivation with 55% of individuals from these households experiencing one or more items of deprivation compared with 25% at State level. Nearly one quarter (24.2%) of individuals in lone parent households experienced three or more of the forms of deprivation.
• Lone parent households reported the highest rates for eight of eleven deprivation items. There was an increase in the inability of lone parents to afford a morning, afternoon or evening out in the last fortnight, rising from 16.8% in 2007 to 28.1% in 2008. Just over one fifth of people in lone parent households went without heating at some stage in the last year and 21.4% lived in a household that was unable to afford to have family or friends for a drink or meal once a month. Nearly one third of individuals in lone parent households lived in a household with the inability to replace worn out furniture (31.9%).
• A higher proportion of children experienced enforced deprivation than other age groups. One in nine children (11.1%) experienced three or more deprivation items in 2008. This compares with a rate of 4.4% among those aged 75 or over.

Consistent Poverty

• Nearly one in five people in lone parent households (17.8%) were in consistent poverty in 2008. This was down from 20.1% in 2007 but lone parent households remained the household type with the highest consistent poverty rate.
• Children (aged 0-17) remained the most exposed age group despite a small fall in the consistent poverty rate from 7.4% in 2007 to 6.3% in 2008. This compares with a consistent poverty rate of 1.7% among persons aged 65-74 and just 1.0% among persons aged 75 or over.

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