The figures, produced
by Eurostat, the EU’s official statistics bureau, showed that, in 2008, 23
percent of children in both Ireland and Latvia were raised by single parents.
The average figure for the EU as a whole was 14 percent.

Estonia and the
United Kingdom had the next highest number at 21
percent each.

The figures show
that, in 2008, 74pc of children in the EU lived with two married parents, while
14pc lived in a single-parent household and 12pc in a household with
cohabitating parents.

In
Ireland, 67.8 percent of children living with their two married parents,
substantially lower than the EU. In addition to the 23 percent of Irish children
who live with a lone parent, another 7.4 percent live with cohabiting parents.

The countries with
the lowest number of children living with two married parents were Estonia and
Sweden (both 54pc),

Greece (92pc) and
Cyprus (89pc) had the highest percentages of children living with both married
parents. Only 4.3 percent of Greek children live
with a lone parent.

In
Italy, 82.1 percent of children live with their two married parents, 6.3 percent
live with cohabiting parents, and 10.8 percent with one
parent.

In
Spain, 83.9 percent of children live with both married parents, 7.8 percent with
cohabiting parents and 7.1 percent with a lone parent.

Households
consisting of cohabitating parents
with children were most common in Sweden
(27pc), Estonia (23pc), France (21pc) and Slovenia (20pc).

The figures also show
the number of
men and women aged 65 and over living
on their own. The EU average for women is 41.2
percent. In Ireland it is 38.8 percent.

But
in Denmark it is 57 percent, in
Finland 52pc and Sweden 51pc.

One
in five men over 65 in the EU live alone. The Irish figure is 23.4 percent.
 Only in Denmark (31pc), the United Kingdom (27pc)
and Sweden (26pc) did more than one quarter of men live alone.

Meanwhile, new
figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the number of births
outside wedlock has remained above 30pc since 2001.

The figures, released today, show that, in 2009, there were
24,532 births outside marriage, which represented 33pc of all births. This
compares to 18,114 births outside marriage in 2001, which represented 31.3pc of
all births in that year.

The figures also show
that the age at which women get married continues to rise. In 1994, the average
age at which women married was 27.1. By 2006, it had risen to
31.2.

The report also shows
that the number of women looking after children at home has declined substantially in the last
decade.

In 2001, there were
569,000 women working in the home, which represented 38.5pc, or nearly four out
of every ten women. By 2009, this number had declined to 531,000, which
represented 29.7pc, just under three out of every ten women. This is a decline
of almost 10pc.