Home > Statistics > Families > 2013 > Number of families with children is falling further

Published: 23 May 2014

Number of families with children is falling further

The number of families with underage children has been falling slowly over the past ten years. The average number of children was 1.84 in 2013. The figure has remained stable, although the number has declined. Many factors have an effect on the number of families with children, such as the sizes of age groups being born and those turning 18, as well as international migration.

Number of children in families with underage children in 1950–2013

In 2013, there were a total of 1,057,000 underage children in families with children. The trend of the number of families with one, two and three children is falling. In contrast, the number of families with at least four children has remained fairly stable. Forty-three per cent of the families with children have one child and 38 per cent of them have two children. Thirteen per cent of families with underage children have three children and five per cent at least four children aged under 18. The family statistics describe the size of families in Finland at a given moment and thus do not concern with the eventual number of children in families.

The total number of families with children in Finland was 576,000 at the end of 2013. The number is 2,700 lower than in the previous year. Forty per cent of the population belong to a family with children. The commonest family type, which 60 per cent of the families with children belong to, continues to be a married couple with children. Nineteen per cent of the families with children were families of cohabiting couples. There were almost equally many families of a mother and children, whose share was 18 per cent. The number of families with a father and children continues to be very low, under three per cent. In slightly over 400 families with children, the parents are a registered same-sex couple.

At the end of 2013, the total number of families was 1,471,000. The number has grown by nearly 5,400 families from the previous year. The growth was bigger than in the previous year, when it was 5,200. Altogether 75 per cent of the Finnish population, that is, 4,082,000 persons, belonged to a family. The share of persons who belong to a family has been falling steadily. As late as in 1990, their share of the population was still 82 per cent. Sixty-five per cent of all families were families of married couples. Twenty-two per cent were families of cohabiting couples and 12 per cent were one-parent families. There were slightly over 2,000 families of registered same-sex couples. People living alone numbered 1,100,000.

At the end of 2013, there were 53,000 reconstituted families in Finland. The number of reconstituted families has remained almost unchanged from the year before. Roughly one-half of the parents of the reconstituted families were cohabiting and one-half were married. A reconstituted family is a family with at least one child aged under 18 of just one of the parents. There were 76,000 of such children.

Families by type in 1990–2013

Type of family	1990	1995	2000	2005	2010	2011	2012	2013	Change    2012–2013
Families total	1 365 341	1 382 970	1 401 963	1 426 002	1 455 073	1 460 570	1 465 733	1 471 085	5 352
Married couple without children	364 452	395 953	436 019	481 209	513 889	518 550	523 221	525 933	2 712
Married couple with children	640 062	579 578	514 868	468 266	446 433	442 257	439 194	434 571	-4 623
Cohabiting couple no children	123 471	135 996	160 132	180 590	195 967	200 171	203 334	208 264	4 930
Cohabiting couple with children	65 896	85 309	102 581	112 847	117 254	118 054	118 136	120 040	1 904
Mother and children	147 297	159 063	159 432	153 024	149 651	149 196	149 143	149 110	-33
Father and children	24 161	27 071	28 931	29 238	30 278	30 534	30 714	30 955	241
Registered male couple 1)	..	..	..	398	706	773	829	905	76
Registered female couple 1)	..	..	..	430	895	1 035	1 162	1 307	145
Family population	4 101 922	4 093 038	4 053 850	4 037 753	4 065 168	4 069 930	4 075 094	4 081 903	6 809
Population 31.12.	4 998 478	5 116 829	5 181 115	5 255 580	5 375 276	5 401 267	5 426 674	5 451 270	24 596
Proportion of family population	82,1	80,0	78,2	76,8	75,6	75,4	75,1	74,9	-0,2
Averige size of family	3,00	2,96	2,89	2,83	2,79	2,79	2,78	2,77	–0,01

1) Families of the type “registered couple with children” numbered 467.

Source: Population and Cause of Death Statistics, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marjut Pietiläinen 09 1734 2798, Timo Nikander 09 1734 3250, vaesto.tilasto@stat.fi

Director in charge: Riitta Harala

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Families by type in 1950 - 2013 (23.5.2014)
• Appendix table 2. Familiy population and average size of family in 1950 - 2013 (23.5.2014)
• Appendix table 3. Families with underage children by type in 1950 - 2013 (23.5.2014)
• Appendix table 4. Reconstituted families 1990 - 2013 (23.5.2014)

Figures

• Appendix figure 1. Families by type and age of wife/mother in 2013 (families with father and children by age of father) (23.5.2014)
• Appendix figure 2. Families with underage children by type and age of mother in 2013 (families with father and children by age of father) (23.5.2014)
• Appendix figure 3. Structure of reconstituted families in 2013 (23.5.2014)
• Appendix figure 4. Number of children in families with underage children by region in 2013, per cent (23.5.2014)

Quality descriptions

• Quality description, families 2013 (23.5.2014)

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Updated 23.5.2014