Census shows drop in number of households with children

Photo: Eesti Lasterikaste Perede Liit

According to the data of the 2011 Population and Housing Census there were 599,832 households in Estonia and the share of households with children aged below 18 had dropped from 33.6 percent in 2000 to 25.2 percent.

One-family households, that is, households with married or cohabiting couples or a lone parent, made up 56.7 percent of all households in 2011, Statistics Estonia said. Compared to the previous census in 2000, the share of households with cohabiting couples has increased from 10.1 percent to 13.6 percent and that of households with married couples decreased from 36.8 percent to 30.1 percent. The share of households with lone parents among one-family households has decreased by 1.7 percentage points. The number and share of households with one member has grown considerably.

In 2000 every third household (33.6 percent) was found to have children younger than 18 years. In 2011 only one out of four households (25.2 percent) had children below the age of 18. The number of households with children aged less than 18 years decreased by more than 44,000 between the two censuses.

The younger the children, the more often they live with cohabiting parents. The older the children, the more often they live in families of lone parents. The last fact characterizes the trend of decay of families – many children are not born into families of lone parents but end up in one as the family falls apart.

Although the number of permanent residents has declined by more than 75,000 since 2000, the number of households was 3 percent bigger in 2011. As a result, the average size of a household has decreased from 2.33 to 2.13 persons. The share of one-member households has grown significantly, from 33.5 percent to 39.9 percent, whereas the share of larger than average households, primarily those with three and four members, has decreased respectively from 18.8 percent to 15.9 percent and from 13.3 percent to 10.5 percent.

There are several reasons for the above-mentioned changes, the statistics agency said. Firstly, compared to the 2000 census the number of children younger than 18 years of age in total population has declined by 74,000. This is why the number and share of households with children has decreased significantly, but in general households with children aged less than 18 years are those with the biggest number of members.

Secondly, the share of elderly people in the population has increased who usually live alone or two together. The third reason is connected to the improvement in living conditions, as a result of which households uniting several families have often broken apart and families have started to live separately. This is shown by the changes in the structure of households as well as in the size of living area and number of dwellings. Fourthly, the number of one-member households has increased on account of the growth in the number of students by more than 11,000.

The 11th population census in Estonia was conducted from Dec. 31, 2011 to March 31, 2012.