Number of lone parents doubles but not clear cut

THE number of lone parents has doubled over the past two decades, but the statistics may not be as straightforward as it seems, according to the ESRI report.

According to the 2006 Census, there were just over 98,333 lone-parent families with children under 15 years of age. This compares with the figure of 36,353 for Census 1986, but the report gives three reasons why trends regarding lone parenthood are “not entirely clear”.

It states there is a possibility that lone parenthood was undercounted by Censuses in the past because of the failure to identify lone parents living within larger family units, and that the number of all family units has increased considerably.