Home > Statistics > Families > 2017 > Annual Review > Share of children living with one parent increases with the child’s age

Published: 5 December 2018

Share of children living with one parent increases with the child’s age

Corrected 21 January 2020: Table 8 of Review 5 has been corrected. The corrections are indicated in red.

According to Statistics Finland's family statistics 2017, eighty-nine per cent of children aged under three live in families with two parents. In ten years, the share has gone down by two percentage points, while the share of children living in one-parent families in turn has grown by two percentage points. Of all babies aged under one, 91 per cent live with two parents and nine per cent with their mother only.

Children by type of family and age 2017

The share of children living with one parent increases with age. In 2017, one-fifth of children aged 17 lived with the mother only, a good decade ago the share was 19 per cent. Respectively, five per cent lived with the father only, which is one percentage point more than ten years earlier.

Every tenth child lives permanently in a reconstituted family, i.e. a family where at least one child aged under 18 is the child of one of the spouses only. Of these children in reconstituted families, 59 per cent are the mother's children, every tenth is the father's child and close on one-third are the spouses common children. Seven per cent of all children are actual children of reconstituted families, that is, children who have obtained a new social parent. The spouses are of the opposite sex in reconstituted families.

Source: Population and Justice Statistics, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marjut Pietiläinen 029 551 2798, Joonas Toivola 029 551 3355, Timo Nikander 029 551 3250, info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (787.8 kB)

Reviews

• 1. Married couple without children is still the commonest family type (5.12.2018)
• 2. Five per cent of families entirely foreign-language speaking (5.12.2018)
• 3. Thirty-nine per cent of families are families with children (5.12.2018)
• 4. Regional differences in prevalence of types of families with underage children (5.12.2018)
• 5. Sixty-three per cent of children live in a family of married couples (5.12.2018)
• 6. Share of young people with the status of a child unchanged (5.12.2018)
• 7. Living alone varies by age (5.12.2018)

Tables

Tables in databases

Pick the data you need into tables, view the data as graphs, or download the data for your use.

• Database tables and their variables
• Archived tables

Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Family population and average size of family in 1950 to 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 2. Swedish-speaking families by type and number of children of spouses/parents December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 3. Married couples by order of marriage of man and woman on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 4. Families by language of spouses/parents on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 5. Families with underage children by language of parents on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 6. Families by citizenship of spouses/parents on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 7. Families with underage children by citizenship of parents on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 8. Families by country of birth of spouses/parents on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 9. Families with underage children by country of birth of parents on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 10. Families by type of family and number of children aged 17 or under living at home on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 11. Families with underage children by number of children aged 17 or under and family type on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 12. Reconstituted families by family composition and number of children on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 13. Families by age group of children and type of family on December 31, 2017 (Corrected on 4 December 2019. The corrected numbers are indicated in red) (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 14. Children aged 0 - 24 by type of family on December 31, 2017 (Corrected on 4 December 2019. The corrected numbers are indicated in red) (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 15. Children by age and number of children in the family living at home aged 17 or under on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 16. Men with a family by age and type of family on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)
• Appendix table 17. Women with a family by age and type of family on December 31, 2017 (5.12.2018)

Quality descriptions

• Quality description, families 2017 (5.12.2018)

---

Updated 5.12.2018