Ireland has seen the most dramatic increase in the proportion of one-parent families in the EU. The one-parent families total has risen 100 per cent to 65,000, according to figures published yesterday by the European Commission's Eurostat service.
The data also show that such Irish families are much worse off relative to their continental counterparts. On average, the income of Irish one-parent families is only 59 per cent of that of other families with dependent children.
Some 26 per cent of Irish lone mothers are unemployed, compared to 17 per cent throughout the EU. The figures reflect both a sharp increase in the number of unmarried parents and the acceleration of marriage breakdown rates, with only the UK coming close to the Irish rate of increase in such families (94 per cent).
Overall in the EU, and throughout the same period, the proportion of one-parent families as a percentage of families with dependent children rose by 14 per cent to seven million. The lowest rate of increase was found in Greece (7 per cent) and Spain (8 per cent).
