2021

In Victoria, 37.6% of couples have no children

46% have children

15% of these people being single parents.

In the SMR region, the average amount of single parents was similar to the state average, at 15% (see Figure 15). Frankston and Greater Dandenong were approximately 5% more than the state average.

Single-parent families can experience various forms of disadvantage including poverty. This is visible in the rates of poverty amongst single-parent households, rates of poverty amongst children, and reliance on welfare

“The poverty rate for children in single-parent families is over twice the poverty rate for children in couple-parent families. Indeed, in 2017, the poverty rate for children in single-parent families was 19.2%, compared with only 5.3% for children living in couple-parent families”

“Single parents have considerably higher rates of welfare reliance than people in other family types” (p. 48).

HILDA report (Wilkins, et al., 2019)