Home > Statistics > Families > 2018 > annual review > 5. Eighty per cent of children live in families with two parents

5. Eighty per cent of children live in families with two parents

Families with children can also be examined by taking the child as the statistical unit instead of the family. Then the results are slightly different. For example, 58 per cent of the families with children are those of married couples, but 63 per cent of all children live in families of married couples, because these families have a higher average number of children than families of cohabiting couples or one-parent families. When the children of cohabiting couples and those of registered couples are included in the calculation, 80 per cent of underage children live in families with two parents. At the end of 2018, a total of 1,037,995 underage children were growing in families. The number was 8,341 lower than in the year before.

In family statistics, children are included in a family based on where they are registered and thus far you can only be registered at one address. So, when the parents divorce, the child is only included in the family of one parent even if the parents would in practice have joint custody. Children’s shared residence was studied in the ad hoc module of Statistic Finland's 2018 Labour Force Survey. Data on shared residence were published on 17 June 2019. According to the results, there was a total of around 110,000 children living in two homes.

Table 8. Children aged 17 or under by type of family in 1985 to 2018

Year	Total	Married couple	Registered partnership	Cohabiting couple	Mother	Father
1985	1 136 027	959 580	..	61 386	102 413	12 648
1990	1 135 686	916 855	..	91 164	113 184	14 483
1995	1 150 562	858 255	..	125 222	148 706	18 379
2000	1 116 687	777 447	..	156 411	162 544	20 285
2005	1 084 865	727 638	131	172 898	162 875	21 323
2010	1 064 470	704 953	397	175 563	161 427	22 130
2011	1 061 710	701 396	500	175 981	161 575	22 258
2012	1 058 664	697 517	597	176 104	162 035	22 411
2013	1 056 606	691 581	672	178 899	162 836	22 618
2014	1 055 763	685 150	797	181 515	165 203	23 098
2015	1 053 444	677 854	938	183 463	167 618	23 571
2016	1 051 285	669 773	1 014	184 914	171 323	24 261
2017	1 046 336	661 610	558	185 140	174 060	24 968
2018	1 037 995	649 782	477	185 029	176 638	26 069
%
1985	100,0	84,5	..	5,4	9,0	1,1
1990	100,0	80,7	..	8,0	10,0	1,3
1995	100,0	74,6	..	10,9	12,9	1,6
2000	100,0	69,6	..	14,0	14,6	1,8
2005	100,0	67,1	0,0	15,9	15,0	2,0
2010	100,0	66,2	0,0	16,5	15,2	2,1
2011	100,0	66,1	0,1	16,6	15,2	2,1
2012	100,0	65,9	0,1	16,6	15,3	2,1
2013	100,0	65,5	0,1	16,9	15,4	2,1
2014	100,0	64,9	0,1	17,2	15,6	2,2
2015	100,0	64,3	0,1	17,4	15,9	2,2
2016	100,0	63,7	0,1	17,6	16,3	2,3
2017	100,0	63,2	0,1	17,7	16,6	2,4
2018	100,0	62,6	0,0	17,8	17,0	2,5

5.1 Thirty-five per cent of children had at least two siblings

Although 43 per cent of families with children had only one child at the end of 2018, only 23 per cent of the children in these families had no siblings. The status of an only child is temporary for many of these children, as the majority of them will have a sibling later on. Some of these children may also have had an older sibling who has already turned 18 or moved away from home.

At the end of 2018, altogether 42 per cent of all children lived with one sibling and 35 per cent of all children had at least two siblings living at home. The proportions have not changed much compared to the year before. In 1985, only 27 per cent of all children had at least two siblings at home.

Table 9. Children by number of underage children in the family in 1985 to 2018

Year	Total	Number of underage children in families
		1	2	3	4 -
1985	1 136 027	306 784	518 206	221 211	89 826
1990	1 135 751	286 529	500 680	243 504	105 038
1995	1 150 562	284 915	484 092	257 283	124 272
2000	1 116 687	268 369	461 516	255 075	131 727
2005	1 084 865	255 549	451 758	245 325	132 233
2010	1 064 470	254 551	445 192	230 580	134 147
2011	1 061 710	253 995	443 286	229 101	135 328
2012	1 058 664	252 986	441 612	227 907	136 159
2013	1 056 606	250 318	441 312	227 175	137 801
2014	1 055 763	247 882	440 974	228 099	138 808
2015	1 053 444	245 871	441 220	227 532	138 821
2016	1 051 285	244 159	441 602	226 467	139 057
2017	1 046 336	241 709	440 232	225 978	138 417
2018	1 037 995	239 248	439 576	222 315	136 856
%
1985	100,0	27,0	45,6	19,5	7,9
1990	100,0	25,2	44,1	21,4	9,2
1995	100,0	24,8	42,1	22,4	10,8
2000	100,0	24,0	41,3	22,8	11,8
2005	100,0	23,6	41,6	22,6	12,2
2010	100,0	23,9	41,8	21,7	12,6
2011	100,0	23,9	41,8	21,6	12,7
2012	100,0	23,9	41,7	21,5	12,9
2013	100,0	23,7	41,8	21,5	13,0
2014	100,0	23,5	41,8	21,6	13,1
2015	100,0	23,3	41,9	21,6	13,1
2016	100,0	23,2	42,0	21,5	13,2
2017	100,0	23,1	42,1	21,6	13,2
2018	100,0	23,0	42,3	21,4	13,2

The cross-sectional nature of family statistics is clearly illustrated in Figure 9, which shows the children of families by age and number of children in the family. Here all children living at home and aged under 18 are taken into account when determining the status of an only child. Of children aged under one year, 41 per cent are without siblings, i.e. they are firstborns in their families. The proportion of children without siblings is the lowest for children aged eight: 13 per cent of them are the only child in the family.

A second child has most likely been born to a family when the firstborn is aged around nine. On the other hand, the older sibling has only on rare occasions reached the age of 18. Since it can be assumed that some of the 8-year-old children will still have a sibling and some of them already have one who has left home, it can be concluded that some ten per cent of children will remain permanently without siblings. The same results are attained when looking at the number of children according to the number of children born to women in the whole country.

Figure 9 indicates that a child’s family is at its largest when he/she is nine years old. Around 42 per cent of children of that age live in families with at least three underage children.

Figure 9. Children by age and number of children aged 17 or under in the family in 2018

5.2 Children in North Ostrobothnia have most siblings

There are also regional differences in the number of siblings. In areas where families are bigger, the proportion of children living with several siblings is naturally larger than in areas of small families. In North Ostrobothnia, 28 per cent of children have at least three siblings aged under 18 living at home. In contrast, around every tenth child in South Karelia, Uusimaa and Southwest Finland is living with at least three siblings. In Åland, only eight per cent of children live with this many siblings.

North, Central and South Ostrobothnia also have the lowest proportions of children living without siblings − under 20 per cent. More than every fourth child in Kymenlaakso, Åland and Uusimaa has no siblings living at home.

Figure 10. Children by number of siblings by region in 2018, %

5.3 Every tenth child is living in a reconstituted family

In all, 106,625 children (10 per cent of all children) aged under 18 are raised in reconstituted families. The number of children growing in reconstituted families declined by around one thousand (1,144) from the year before. However, the relative share remained the same. Of children in reconstituted families 32,170 are the spouses' common children, that is, born to a family that previously had the mother’s and/or the father’s children only. Altogether, 44 per cent of reconstituted families have had common children born to the family as well. There are 74,455 actual children of reconstituted families (7% of all children), that is, children who have obtained a new social parent. Of these children, 63,353 were brought into the family by their mother and 11,102 by their father.

5.4 Nine per cent on underage children are of foreign background

During 2012, Statistics Finland adopted a new origin classification. Persons whose at least one parent who was born in Finland are considered to be of Finnish background. Also, persons whose parents' data are unknown but whose native language is Finnish, Swedish or Sami are considered to be of Finnish background. Persons whose both parents or the only known parent were born abroad are considered to be of foreign background. Persons who were born abroad and whose both parents' data are unknown are also considered to be of foreign background. Using the origin classification, it is easy to distinguish between first (born abroad) and second (born in Finland) generation Finns with a foreign background. The following looks at all children belonging to the population of Finland.

Based on what is stated above, 90,800 or nine per cent of all underage children were of foreign background at the end of 2018. During the year, the number of underage children with foreign background has grown by close on five thousand (4,771). In 1990, there were 3,500 underage children with foreign background in Finland.

Until 2003, there were more children with foreign background in the first generation than in the second generation, but in the following year there were slightly more children with foreign background in the second generation, 51 per cent. At the end of 2018, the share of children with foreign background in the second generation among all children with foreign background was 61 per cent. In recent years, the ratio has remained unchanged.

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

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Updated 31.01.2020