Attached are some briefs from the 2013 Census compiled by the National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis at
the University of Waikato for your consideration.
Families in the census
The broad definition of families in the census is not dependent on the presence or the age of children in the family. It
includes couples without children and at least one parent with unpartnered children living at home, without children of
their own. This could, then, include an elderly parent and adult child. Using this definition New Zealand families in
2013 were equally split between couples without children and couples with children, with one parent families making up
just 18% (Figure 1).
More commonly we are concerned with families with dependent children, that is, children aged under 18 not employed
full-time and living at home with a parent or parents. In this case, couples without dependent children make up almost
half (48%) of all families (Figure 2). When just families with dependent children are considered, one parent families
make up 27%, and two parent families 73% (Table 1). This means almost three out of four families with dependent children
are two parent families.
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