Families
2010 the Austrian Labour Force Survey (micro census) gave a result of 2 334 000 families. There are children in 1 418 000 families (60.7%). All in all, there are 975 000 married couples (41.8% of families) and 147 000 cohabiting couples with at least one child (6.3% of families). The Labour Force Survey also yielded just under 296 000 lone-parent families with children of all ages. Of this figure, lone mothers and their children account for the greatest share (254 000 or 10.9% of families). Families with lone fathers constitute a much smaller share (around 41 000 or 1.8% of families).
916 000 families are couples without children (39.3%). Because the family statistics only record family members living in the same household, the majority of these families are couples whose children have already left the parental home. Unmarried men and women living together are more frequently “childless” (55.7%) than married couples (42.8%).
The distribution of families based on the number of children is as follows: In half of all families with children (50.1%) there is one child, in 36.9% there are two and in 13.1% there are three or more children. Overall in Austria there are only 43 500 families with four or more children. Among married couples the percentages of families with one or two children are almost the same (43.4% and 40.6%). The situation is different among cohabiting couples and single-parent families: Here the single-child family predominates (58.3% and 68.1% respectively).
Married couples with children still constitute the most frequent type of family, but “newer” types of family are gaining more and more importance. For instance, only a small number of couples marry before they establish a common household. Most couples spend some time living together without being married. In Austria in 2010, around 333 000 unmarried couples lived together in one household, 44.3% with children. In 1985 this figure was 73 000, 37.6% with children.
There are significant differences in the distribution
of this type of living arrangement between the age groups: According
to the Labour Force Survey results, in
The average number of children per family with children of all ages in 2010 was 1.67 compared with 1.82 in 1985. The average number of children under 15 years belonging to married couples (with children) was 1.68. Cohabiting couples have 1.44 children on average, lone mothers 1.40 and lone fathers 1.35.
Stepfamilies (or reconstituted families) are defined as couples (cohabiting or married) with children, where at least one child stems from a former partnership or marriage. In Austria in 2010 there are 85 700 so-called reconstituted families, in other words families with step-parent/step-child relationships. With respect to the 892 000 couples in total (with supported children below 27 living in the household), 9.6% of families fall into this group.
According to the nuclear family concept defined by the United Nations, married or cohabiting couples with or without children or single parents with children constitute a family. What is important to note about this concept is that it is restricted to those children who live in the same household without their own partner and/or their own children. It does not take account of children who have already moved out of the parental home.
Please consult our German website for tables and charts containing further information.
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