Proportion of children living with both birth parents increases to 70%

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Having declined substantially between 1960-2012, the proportion of US children being raised by both birth parents has continued a gradual upward trend and reached 70% last year, the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) reports.

In 1960, the proportion of children under 18 living with both birth parents was 88%, but by 2012 this figure was down to 61%, IFS said. Between 1960-2005, the proportion of children living with divorced, separated, or never-married single parents had increased from 9% to 28%. And the proportion of children who lived with neither birth parent had increased from 3% to 4.5%.

According to IFS, the tide may be turning towards two-birth parent families again. In 2020, the proportion of single-parent families had decreased from 28% to 25%. Moreover, in what IFS describes as “one of the most encouraging developments,” the proportion of black high school seniors living with both birth parents had risen from 24% in 2012 to 30% in 2019.

“The trend data show a recovery or at least a leveling off from the lows observed early in the new millennium,” IFS said.

“It is too early to say for certain but growing numbers of actual and would-be parents seem to be heeding the conventional wisdom that a stable two-parent family helps children flourish educationally, socially, and economically,” IFS added.

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