Istat, in Italy more single-parent families and fewer couples with children

According to Istat, Italian families are changing their skin.

The data on studies concerning the last 10 years of life of the Italian families, record a pattern of different family compared to the past and a +35% of single mothers with children

In 10 years there has been an increase in single-parent households and a decrease in couples with children.

What data emerges from the Istat research

According to the latest Istat research, from 2011 to 2021 in our country couples with children have decreased by over one million and 200 thousand, with an even stronger downward trend compared to the beginning of the new millennium.

The published study also records a decrease in childless couples living together (-3% compared to 2011) and a increase in single-parent households, mostly made up of mothers alone, which went from approximately 2 million 650 thousand in 2011 to more than 3 million 800 thousand in 2021 (+44%).

Le single mothers in 2021 are 2.967.420, up 35,5% compared to 2011, while single fathers are 855.049 with a variation of approximately 85% (462.626 in 2011). 

The condition of being a “single parent” is in fact almost a female prerogative (eight cases out of 10), because women often continue to live with their children after separation or divorce, especially because, in these cases, in In judicial separations, maternal custody tends to be favoured.

How old are single parents?

Il 45,2% of single parents with children are between 45 and 64 years old, il 25,3% he has it less than 45 and the remaining 29,5% are over sixty-five. 

Single parents over eighty-five are 7,1%, increasing by more than double in the last decade, a sign of the progressive aging of the population and the need for assistance to the elderly by children. 

La most of childless couples live in Northwest.

At the regional level, in Basilicata, Campania and Puglia more than half of the households are made up of couples with children.

Le regions that record lower values compared to the rest of the country they are the Valle d'Aosta (40,7%), Piedmont (41,3%) and Liguria (37,2%).

Piedmont and Friuli Venezia Giulia are, instead, in pole position in terms of couples without children with values ​​(36% for both), while all the regions of the South, the two major islands and Lazio do not reach the threshold of 30%.

Among couples with children, 5 out of 10 have it only one (3.651.243), four out of 10 have it two (3.152.848) and one in 10 has it three or more (733.783).

The model of the is now dominant only child, especially in the North, while in the South there are fewer

Le same-sex couples are increasing compared to the last decade.

Most live in Northern Italy (over 60%), while in the southern regions the percentage stops at 15%.