Insee Première · January 2025 · n° 2032

In 2023, three out of ten children lived with only one of their parents

In France, in 2023, 67% of underage children lived in a "traditional" family, 23% in a single-parent family, and 10% in a stepfamily (7% with a parent and a step-parent, and 4% with both parents and half-siblings). Overall, 30% of children lived with only one of their parents, a slight increase compared to 2018. This proportion rises with age.

In overseas departments, children were twice as likely to live with their mother in a single-parent family compared to mainland France. In large urban areas, excluding Paris, children more often lived in single-parent families than in rural areas.

Children in "traditional" families tended to grow up in more privileged environments, particularly with better-educated adults, compared to those in other family structures. Conversely, children living with single mothers experienced less advantaged conditions: their mothers were more often unemployed, and they were more likely to live in overcrowded housing.