Children with single parent three times more likely to live in MDU

A child at home, playing on a laptop
© CBS
On 1 January 2021, more than a third of all minors in single-parent households were living in a multi-dwelling unit (MDU), for example an apartment, ground floor unit or upstairs unit. This share is three times larger than among children staying with both their parents. Forty percent of the approximately 3.2 million children living at home lived in a terraced house. In very highly urbanised municipalities, 42 percent of local minors lived in an MDU. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of a new survey as part of the National Youth Monitor.

The majority of children up to age 18 lived with one or two parents in a terraced house, regardless of whether these parents were married, cohabiting or single. Especially in Amsterdam, many children lived in an MDU (75 percent). This was also the case in The Hague (59 percent), Rotterdam (56 percent) and Schiedam (50 percent). The share was much lower in Utrecht (27 percent). In the municipality of Rozendaal, none of the children living at home lived in an MDU. Relatively many children in non-urbanised municipalities lived in detached homes; only 3 percent lived in a multi-dwelling unit. The reverse is true for very highly urbanised municipalities.

Nearly three quarters live in owner-occupied dwellings

At the beginning of 2021, 72 percent of all minors living at home were staying in an owner-occupied dwelling; 21 percent were staying in a rented dwelling owned by a housing corporation while 7 percent were living in a dwelling rented from another type of landlord. Of the children living with both parents, 80 percent lived in an owner-occupied dwelling. This was around 30 percent among children in single-parent households; around 70 percent of such children lived in rented dwellings, mostly owned by a housing corporation.

Children of single parents often in smaller homes

Almost half of minors living at home lived in a dwelling with a surface area of between 100 and 150 square metres. The median or average surface area was 122 square metres. Children in single-parent families relatively often lived in smaller homes: approximately half were living on less than 100 m2, against 19 percent of children living with a (married or cohabiting) couple.

Children of single parents have relatively more living space

On average, a minor child living at home has access to 31 square metres of usable area, determined by dividing the surface area by the number of people living there. Children living with married parents have the least space (median 30 m2), followed by children living with unmarried cohabiting parents (median 31 m2). Children in single-parent households have the most space per person, at a median value of 33 m2. This is because only one parent lives there, on average with fewer children.
The figures in this news release were obtained from the ‘Woonbase’. CBS has developed this housing survey based on integral data sources, in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. For this news release, minors were selected who were living in properties with a residential function that were part of the national dwelling stock and had an area greater than or equal to 14 m2 but less than or equal to 2,700 m2 as at 1 January 2021.

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