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Families with children

In 2006, there were 641,500 families with children living within New Zealand households. Of these families, 515,800 (80 percent) had dependent children (aged under 18 years and not in full-time employment).11

The number of families with dependent children increased by 8 percent in the five years to 2006, the largest increase since the census count of families began in 1976. The number of two-parent families with dependent children grew faster than the number of one-parent families (9 percent, compared with 3 percent).

As a result, the proportion of families with dependent children headed by one parent fell slightly, from 29 percent in 2001 to 28 percent in 2006. 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 P4 Families with dependent children, by family type, 1976–2006

 

 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006
Number
Two-parent family 398,772 380,886 363,489 339,681 346,086 339,159 370,809
One-parent family 46,296 62,280 82,632 110,055 126,585 140,178 145,032
    Mother only 39,153 52,938 71,388 92,028 107,394 117,018 120,996
Father only 7,143 9,342 11,244 18,024 19,191 23,163 24,036
Total families 445,068 443,166 446,121 449,736 472,671 479,337 515,841
  Percentage distribution
Two-parent family 89.6 85.9 81.5 75.5 73.2 70.8 71.9
One-parent family 10.4 14.1 18.5 24.5 26.8 29.2 28.1
    Mother only 8.8 11.9 16.0 20.5 22.7 24.4 23.5
    Father only 1.6 2.1 2.5 4.0 4.1 4.8 4.7
Total families 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Source: Statistics New Zealand, published and unpublished census data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 years and still at school

Compared to other OECD countries, New Zealand has a relatively high proportion of families with children under 18 years headed by sole parents (28 percent), second only to the United States (33 percent in 2006) and higher than the United Kingdom (25 percent in 2006), Australia and Canada (both 22 percent in 2006).

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