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Families with children

In 2001, there were 590,700 families with children living within New Zealand households, 81 percent of which contained dependent children (aged under 18 years and not in full-time employment).10

The number of families with dependent children increased by 6.6 percent in the decade to 2001, compared with an increase of just 1.5 percent in the previous decade. The most significant change in families in the past two decades has been the shift from two-parent to one-parent families. This was more pronounced in the 1980s, when the share of one-parent families increased from 14 to 24 percent, than in the 1990s, when it rose to 29 percent. One-parent families are expected to continue to increase, but at a slower rate. Family projections based on trends since 1986 suggest that by 2021, one-parent families are projected to make up around 35 percent of all families with dependent children. For many of these families there will be parents living in another household who are actively involved in the care and upbringing of the children.

Table P3 Families with dependent children, by family type, 1976–2001

  1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001
  Number
Two-parent family 398,772 380,886 363,489 339,681 346,086 339,159
One-parent family 46,296 62,280 82,632 110,055 126,585 140,178
 Mother only 39,153 52,938 71,388 92,028 107,394 117,018
Father only 7,143 9,342 11,244 18,024 19,191 23,163
Total families 445,068 443,166 446,121 449,736 472,671 479,337
  Percentage distribution
Two-parent family 89.6 85.9 81.5 75.5 73.2 70.8
One-parent family 10.4 14.1 18.5 24.5 26.8 29.2
Mother only 8.8 11.9 16.0 20.5 22.7 24.4
Father only 1.6 2.1 2.5 4.0 4.1 4.8
Total families 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Sources: Statistics New Zealand, published and unpublished census data
Note: The census definition of child dependency has changed over time. From 1996, a dependent child is a person in a family aged less than 18 years who is not in full-time employment. For earlier years, a dependent child is a person in a family under 16 years or aged 16–18 and still at school

New Zealand has a relatively high proportion of families with children under 18 headed by sole parents (29 percent), second only to the United States (31 percent in 2001) and higher than the United Kingdom (22 percent), Australia and Canada (both 21 percent).