Ireland has
the one of the highest rates of lone parenthood in the developed world
according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD).

The report,
called ‘Doing Better for Families’ highlights family poverty which has a strong
link to lone parenthood.

Britain has
the highest percentage of lone parents among the 27 members of the OECD at 25.9
percent. Ireland is fifth with households headed by lone parents accounting for
22.8 percent of all families.

The OECD
average is 15.4 percent. In Italy, single parents account for just 7.8 percent
of families.

Estonia,
Sweden and the US are the other countries with a higher percentage of lone parent families
than Ireland.

The report
also shows that Ireland has one of the highest percentages of children living
in poverty at over 16 percent against the OECD average of 12.7 percent.

The report acknowledges that
households with two parents are less likely to experience poverty than
households with one parent.

It says: “Given that joblessness
greatly increases the chances of a household being poor, couple households can
act as a protection for children against poverty as such households are less
likely to be jobless.”

However, despite this
acknowledgement, the report does not discuss the importance or otherwise of
family structure preferring instead to recommend other ways to reduce family poverty.

It says Governments should:

– Ensure that work pays for both parents, including through
assistance with childcare costs.

– Help families combine work and care commitments, through an
integrated set of leave, care and workplace support for parents of young
children.

      
– Design parental leave systems that encourage more fathers to
take and share leave and promote their engagement with homecare
responsibilities.

      
– Start investing in family policies during the early years and
sustain investment throughout childhood. 

      
– Ensure high-quality childcare services are linked to improved
cognitive development, especially for children from poor households.