Almost 1 in 6 children live in single-parent households

At the beginning of 2019, there were nearly 3.4 million children under the age of 18 years in the Netherlands. 538 thousand of them were part of a single-parent household.
This situation may have arisen because their parents separated, one of the parents passed away or their parents never lived together.
A large majority of these children are registered with the mother (89 percent).

Over the past two decades, the share of children living in single-parent households has increased from 11 percent in 1999 to 16 percent in 2019. In the same period, the share of children living with unmarried parents has risen as well. A small proportion were residing in an institution or with a foster family; constituted a household together with one of their grandparents or siblings (whether or not including a single parent), or lived unaccompanied.

Heerlen, Rotterdam children: nearly 3 in 10 live in single-parent household

At the beginning of 2019, the highest share of single-parent households with children was found in the cities of Heerlen and Rotterdam, namely 29 percent of all children living in these municipalities. At 26 percent, Capelle aan den IJssel and Amsterdam also had relatively high shares. Staphorst and Urk had the lowest share with 4 percent of all minors living in single-parent households. In general, the share of children in single-parent households is lower in less urbanised areas.

15 thousand infants in single-parent households

The share of infants (0-1 years) in single-parent households increased between 1999 and 2019. At the beginning of 2019, approximately 9 percent were living in a single-parent household, equivalent to 15 thousand infants. In 1999, nearly 6 percent of all infants in the Netherlands were living in households with only one parent. In 2019, more than 30 percent of the infants were living with unmarried parents, while almost 60 percent had parents who were married. These shares were 15 and 78 percent respectively in 1999.