Families with children

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

The number of families with dependent children increased by 8 per cent 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 per cent, compared with 3 per cent). As a result, the proportion of families with dependent children headed by one parent fell slightly, from 29 per cent in 2001 to 28 per cent 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Source:Statistics New Zealand, published and unpublished census data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 per cent), second only to the United States (33 per cent in 2006) and higher than the United Kingdom (25 per cent in 2006), Australia and Canada (both 22 per cent in 2006).

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