Facts about families in Scotland

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An overview of family make-up, including cohabitation, marriage, divorce, stepfamilies, lone parent families, teenage parents, first-time mothers, adoption and children in care

Families are the bedrock of our society, bringing up the citizens of tomorrow's Scotland. They nurture children, building strength, resilience and providing love and encouragement to help them to have the best start in life and become the responsible citizens of tomorrow.

Families are changing in modern Scotland. Healthy, nurturing relationships matter more than any fixed family shape or legal relationship. Increasingly, families change throughout their lifetime, and no one shape guarantees the best outcomes for children. All families can, in the right circumstances and with the right support, bring up happy, healthy children.

Household, children and family statistics

Here are some facts about how families are living in Scotland today:

  • 5.2 million people live in Scotland. 1
  • Around 1,037,839 are under 18. 2
  • 24% of households contain children (approx. 604,000 households). 3 4
  • The number of households containing two or more adults with children is projected to decline from 19% to 11% of all households by 2031. 5
  • In 2011, there were 29,135 marriages, the highest for four years, although low compared to a generation ago. 6
  • In the same year, there were 9,814 divorces, the fewest in 30 years. 7
  • More people are cohabiting than before. 8
  • In 2011, more children were born to unmarried than to married parents for the first time. 9
  • There are over 163,000 lone parents with 295,000 children (almost one in four families). 10
  • Over half of lone parents were previously married. 11
  • At July 2011, there were 16,171 children looked after by local authorities. This number has increased every year since 2001, and is at its highest since 1981. 12
  • During 2009, there were 455 adoptions. This is 37 more than in 2008, but half that of the late 1980s, and around a quarter of the early 1970s. 13
  • In 2006, it was predicted that by 2010, stepfamilies would be the dominant family form. 14
  • One in four children (250,000) is growing up in a family whose income is below the poverty line. 15
  • 27% of lone parents have a long-standing health problem or disability as do 19% of children living with a lone parent. 16
  • Around 16,500 children a year experience a parent's imprisonment. 17
  • The teenage pregnancy rate has been fairly steady for the past decade but Scotland has a higher rate of teenage pregnancy than most other western European countries. 18
  • Teenage pregnancy is linked to deprivation with the rates of teenage pregnancy in deprived areas more than treble those of the least deprived areas. 19
  • The average age of becoming a mother increased from 27.4 in 1991 to 29.6 in 2010 and becoming a father from 30 to 32.4. 20
  1. http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files2/stats/household-estimates/he-10/households-dwellings-est-2010.pdf
  2. http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/theme/population/estimates/mid-year/2010/index.html
  3. http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/theme/households/estimates/2010/list-of-tables.html
  4. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/08/17093111/3
  5. http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files2/stats/household-projections/2008-projections/j1180903.htm#31
  6. http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/theme/vital-events/divorces-and-dissolutions/time-series.html
    (http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/press/news2012/deaths-lowest-since-1855.html, see also http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2012/03/death-statistics08032011)
  7. IBID
  8. IBID
  9. See footnote 5,6,7
  10. IBID
  11. http://www.opfs.org.uk/files/one-parent-families_a-profile_2009.pdf
  12. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children
  13. http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files2/stats/annual-review-09/rgar2009.pdf
  14. O'Neill, S. (2006). Wills and awareness of inheritance rights. Consumer Council
  15. National Statistics 2011
  16. http://www.opfs.org.uk/files/one-parent-families_a-profile_2009.pdf
  17. Families Outside (2009). "Support and Information for children affected by imprisonment". In Brief 4. Edinburgh: Families Outside
  18. http://www.isdscotlandarchive.scot.nhs.uk/isd/2071.html
  19. http://www.isdscotlandarchive.scot.nhs.uk/isd/2071.html
  20. http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/at-a-glance/annrev/2010/index.html
Woman and young child playing game with their tongues