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5. Eighty-two per cent of children live in families with two parents

Families with children can also be examined by taking the child as the statistical unit instead of the family. Then the results are slightly different. For example, 59 per cent of the families with underage children are those of married couples, but 64 per cent of all children live in families of married couples, because these families have a higher average number of children than families of cohabiting couples or one-parent families. When the children of cohabiting couples and those of registered couples are included in the calculation, 82 per cent of underage children live in families with two parents.

Table 8. Children aged 17 or under by type of family in 1985–2015

Year	Total	Married couple	Registered partnership	Cohabiting couple	Mother	Father
1985	1 136 027	959 580	..	61 386	102 413	12 648
1990	1 135 686	916 855	..	91 164	113 184	14 483
1995	1 150 562	858 255	..	125 222	148 706	18 379
2000	1 116 687	777 447	..	156 411	162 544	20 285
2005	1 084 865	727 638	131	172 898	162 875	21 323
2010	1 064 470	704 953	397	175 563	161 427	22 130
2011	1 061 710	701 396	500	175 981	161 575	22 258
2012	1 058 664	697 517	597	176 104	162 035	22 411
2013	1 056 606	691 581	672	178 899	162 836	22 618
2014	1 055 763	685 150	797	181 515	165 203	23 098
2015	1 053 444	677 854	938	183 463	167 618	23 571
Per cent
1985	100,0	84,5	..	5,4	9,0	1,1
1990	100,0	80,7	..	8,0	10,0	1,3
1995	100,0	74,6	..	10,9	12,9	1,6
2000	100,0	69,6	..	14,0	14,6	1,8
2005	100,0	67,1	0,0	15,9	15,0	2,0
2010	100,0	66,2	0,0	16,5	15,2	2,1
2011	100,0	66,1	0,1	16,6	15,2	2,1
2012	100,0	65,9	0,1	16,6	15,3	2,1
2013	100,0	65,5	0,1	16,9	15,4	2,1
2014	100,0	64,9	0,1	17,2	15,6	2,2
2015	100,0	64,3	0,1	17,4	15,9	2,2

5.1 Under one-quarter of children live in a family with one child

Although 43 per cent of families with children had only one child at the end of 2015, only 23 per cent of the children in these families had no siblings. The status of an only child is temporary for many of these children, as the majority of them will have a sibling later on. Some of these children may also have had an older sibling who has already turned 18 or moved away from home.

At the end of 2015, altogether 42 per cent of all children lived with one sibling and 35 per cent of all children had at least two siblings living at home. In 1985, only 27 per cent of all children had at least two siblings at home.

Table 9. Children by number of underage children in the family in 1985–2015

Year	Total	Number of underage children in families
		1	2	3	4 -
1985	1 136 027	306 784	518 206	221 211	89 826
1990	1 135 751	286 529	500 680	243 504	105 038
1995	1 150 562	284 915	484 092	257 283	124 272
2000	1 116 687	268 369	461 516	255 075	131 727
2005	1 084 865	255 549	451 758	245 325	132 233
2010	1 064 470	254 551	445 192	230 580	134 147
2011	1 061 710	253 995	443 286	229 101	135 328
2012	1 058 664	252 986	441 612	227 907	136 159
2013	1 056 606	250 318	441 312	227 175	137 801
2014	1 055 763	247 882	440 974	228 099	138 808
2015	1 053 444	245 871	441 220	227 532	138 821
Per cent
1985	100,0	27,0	45,6	19,5	7,9
1990	100,0	25,2	44,1	21,4	9,2
1995	100,0	24,8	42,1	22,4	10,8
2000	100,0	24,0	41,3	22,8	11,8
2005	100,0	23,6	41,6	22,6	12,2
2010	100,0	23,9	41,8	21,7	12,6
2011	100,0	23,9	41,8	21,6	12,7
2012	100,0	23,9	41,7	21,5	12,9
2013	100,0	23,7	41,8	21,5	13,0
2014	100,0	23,5	41,8	21,6	13,1
2015	100,0	23,3	41,9	21,6	13,1

The cross-sectional nature of family statistics is clearly illustrated in Figure 9, which shows the children of families by age and number of children in the family. Here all children living at home and aged under 18 are taken into account when determining the status of an only child. Of children aged under one year, 41 per cent are without siblings, i.e. they are firstborns in their families. The proportion of children without siblings, 13 per cent, is the lowest for children aged eight.

A second child has most likely been born to a family when the firstborn is aged around eight. On the other hand, the older sibling has only on rare occasions reached the age of 18. Since it can be assumed that some of the 7-year-old children will still have a sibling and some of them already have one who has left home, it can be concluded that some ten per cent of children will remain permanently without siblings. The same results are attained when looking at the number of children according to the number of children born to women in the whole country.

Figure 9 indicates that a child’s family is at its largest when he/she is aged between 8 and 10. Around 43 per cent of children of that age live in families with at least three underage children.

Figure 9. Children by age and number of children aged 17 or under in the family in 2015

5.2 Number of siblings varies much between regions

There are also differences in the numbers of siblings by area. In areas where families are bigger, the proportion of children living with several siblings is naturally larger than in areas of small families. In North Ostrobothnia, over one-quarter of children have three or more siblings aged under 18 living at home. In contrast, every tenth child in South Karelia, Uusimaa and Varsinais-Suomi is living with at least three siblings. In Åland, only six per cent of children live with this many siblings.

North, Central and South Ostrobothnia also have the lowest proportions of children living without siblings − under 20 per cent. More than every fourth child in Åland, South Karelia and Uusimaa has no siblings living at home.

Figure 10. Children by number of siblings by region in 2015, %

In Finnish municipalities, Sievi, Lumijoki and Tyrnävä (under 9%) have in relative terms the least children without siblings. In relative terms, most children without siblings are living in Mainland Finland in Pelkosenniemi (33%), Helsinki (30%), Tervo (30%) and Turku (29%), and in Åland's municipalities in Sottunga, Sund and Föglö (over one third).

The number of children of large families living with three or more siblings is in relative terms highest in Perho and Pyhäntä (55%). In addition, over one half of children live in families with at least four children in Lumijärvi, Sievi, Ranua and Merijärvi. The number of children living with at least three siblings is naturally, in relative terms, highest in municipalities that have the biggest sizes of families with underage children (Section 4.2). In relative terms, the number of children living with at least three siblings was lowest in Åland's Sottunga, Hammarland, Brändö and Lemland, whose share varies from zero to four per cent. In Mainland Finland the number of children living with at least three siblings is lowest in relative terms in Kustavi (4%), Närpiö and Korsnäs (5%).

5.3 Every tenth child is living in a reconstituted family

In all, 109,200 children (10 per cent of all children) aged under 18 are raised in reconstituted families. The number and relative share of children growing in reconstituted families grew slightly from the year before. Of them, 33,500 are the spouses' common children, that is, born to a family that previously had the mother’s and/or the father’s children only. Altogether, 41 per cent of reconstituted families have had common children born to the family as well. There are 75,700 actual children of reconstituted families (7% of all children), that is, children who have obtained a new social parent. Of these children, 64,800 were brought into the family by their mother and 10,900 by their father.

5.4 Number of children with foreign background is growing

During 2012, Statistics Finland adopted a new origin classification. Persons whose at least one parent who was born in Finland are considered to be of Finnish background. Also, persons whose parents' data are unknown but whose native language is Finnish, Swedish or Sami are considered to be of Finnish background. Persons whose both parents or the only known parent were born abroad are considered to be of foreign background. Persons who were born abroad and whose both parents' data are unknown are also considered to be of foreign background. Using the origin classification, it is easy to distinguish between first (born abroad) and second (born in Finland) generation Finns with a foreign background. The following looks at all children belonging to the population of Finland.

Based on what is stated above, 74,100 or seven per cent of all underage children were of foreign background at the end of 2015. During the year, the number of underage children with foreign background has grown by around five thousand. In 1990, there were 3,500 underage children with foreign background in Finland.

Until 2003, there were more children with foreign background in the first generation than in the second generation, but in the following year there were slightly more children with foreign background in the second generation, 51 per cent. At the end of 2015, the share of children with foreign background in the second generation among all children with foreign background was 61 per cent. In recent years, the ratio has remained unchanged.

Source: Population and Justice Statistics, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Eevi Lappalainen 029 551 3367, Timo Nikander 029 551 3250 , Marjut Pietiläinen 029 551 2798, info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Updated 25.11.2016