Seven times more single mothers than single fathers in EU

Among the 200 million private households in the EU27, what share consists of single women with or without children? And what proportion are couples? How does the number of children affect the employment rate of both mothers and fathers? How do women and men perceive their general health?

These were only some of the questions asked by EUROSTAT surveys into the sociological landscape of the European Union. Marking 8 March, 2011 - International Women’s Day – EUROSTAT attempted to answer these questions and deliver an accurate and relevant picture of European men, women, and families.

Seven times more single mothers than single fathers

There were just over 200 million private households in the EU27 in 2009, of which 25% consisted of couples without children, 22% of couples with children, 17% of single women without children, 13% of single men without children, 4% of single women with children, 0.5% of single men with children and 19% of other types of households.

For single women without children, the shares varied from 9% of all households in Cyprus and 11% in Spain, Malta and Portugal to 23% in Finland, 21% in Germany and Lithuania and 20% in Austria and France. In all Member States, there was a higher proportion of women living alone than of men.

The share of single women with children ranged from less than 2% in Greece, Finland, Romania and Malta to 7% in Estonia and the United Kingdom and 6% in Ireland, Latvia and Lithuania, while the proportion for men was 1% or less in all Member States.

The more children, the lower the employment rate for women in the EU27

The employment rates for women and men vary differently according to whether they have children or not. The employment rate for women aged 25 to 54 decreases as the number of children increases, while for men in this age group the pattern is almost the opposite.

In the EU27 in 2009, the employment rate for women aged 25 to 54 without children was 75.8%, while the rate for those women with one child was 71.3%, compared with 69.2% for those with two children and 54.7% for those with three children or more.

For men in this age group without children the employment rate was 80.3%, while it was 87.4% for those with one child, 90.6% for those with two children and 85.4% for those with three children or more.

The pattern observed on an EU level, that the employment rate for women decreases as the number of children increases is confirmed in a majority of Member States.

However, the pattern is slightly different in Cyprus, Hungary, the Netherlands and Finland, where the rate decreases for the first child but then increases for the second. In Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Romania, women with one child are more often in employment, and the employment rate only starts to drop for women with a second child. In Belgium and Slovenia, the employment rate starts to drop with the third child. For men, the EU pattern is confirmed in nearly all Member States.

Employment rates for women both with and without children were lower than for men in all Member States, except for women without children in Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Finland.

Ireland has the highest share of both women and men feeling they have very good general health

The answer to the question: "How is your health in general?", differs quite significantly between women and men, as well as between Member States. In the EU27 in 2008, 65% of women and 71% of men aged 15 and over declared they had very good or good general health, 24% of women and 21% of men said they had fair general health, while 11% of women and 8% of men stated they had bad or very bad health.

The pattern was the same in all Member States: men declared a better general state of health than women.

Among the Member States, the highest shares of women stating they had very good or good health were found in Ireland (83%), the United Kingdom (79%), Sweden (76%) and Cyprus (75%), and for men in Ireland (86%), Sweden (82%), the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (both 81%).

On the other hand, the highest shares of women declaring that their health was bad or very bad were observed in Portugal (23%), Hungary (21%), Lithuania and Latvia (both 20%), and for men in Hungary (17%), Portugal (16%) and Poland (15%).