The proportion of households containing a married or cohabiting couple and dependent children* has shown considerable change over the last three decades. At the beginning of the 1980s around 30% of households consisted of a married or cohabiting couple and dependent children. This had declined to 25% by 1991. In 2001, 22% of households in Britain contained a married or cohabiting couple and dependent children representing no statistically significant change from 21% in 2000. The proportion of households comprising a cohabiting couple with dependent children has remained steady at 3% since 1996, while the proportion of married couples with dependent children has declined from 23% to 18% over this period.

Seven per cent of households contained a lone parent and dependent children in 2001, as in 2000. In 1979 this group represented 4% of households. It increased slowly to 7% in 1993 since when there has been no change.

Table 3.5 showed that lone parents with dependent children formed 7% of the total household population. Table 3.6 looks just at families with dependent children. It shows that a quarter of all families with dependent children was headed by a lone parent, 22% being lone mothers and 3% lone fathers. There has been a substantial increase in the proportion of families headed by a lone parent over the thirty years since the survey began. In 1971 they were 8% of all families with dependent children. This proportion had risen to 24% by 1998, and has remained around that level.

In 1971, previously married lone mothers headed 6% of families with dependent children, compared with 1% of lone mothers who had never married. By 2001 both groups of lone mothers had increased, but there was less difference between the proportions who were single and those who were previously married; 12% of families with dependent children were eaded by previously married lone mothers, compared with 10% who had not been married.

*Dependent children are persons aged under 16 or single persons aged 16 but under 19, in full-time education, in the family unit and living as part of the household.