A recent study has provided a detailed statistical analysis of the structure of families in Ireland.

Key findings of the study include:

• One-in-three families in Ireland departs from the traditional model of a married couple both of whom are in their first marriage. One-in-four children under 21 years of age lives in a family that does not conform to this model.
• Alternative family structures are dominated by never-married cohabiting couples and lone mothers (both never-married and divorced or separated). Together with first-time marriages, these four family types account for 92% of families.
• Second relationships and step-families, though they exist in diverse forms, remain relatively rare in Ireland.
• Of the 1.15 million children, 75% live with two married parents, 18% with a lone parent and 6% with cohabiting parents.
• The chance of living with two married parents increases steadily with the age of the child and is much higher where the parents have higher levels of educational attainment.
• An estimated 2.5% of children live in step-families (i.e. families containing at least one step-child) and 1.3% are step-children. These step-families have a similar socio-economic profile to non-step-families.
• More than half of all step-families consist of a single step-child with one or more younger step-siblings, the oldest of whom is an average of eight years younger.
• International comparisons show that Ireland has a low level of second relationships and remarriage relative to other developed nations, but a high rate of unmarried lone parenthood. Both may be connected to delaying couple formation, which improves the chances that couple relationships will last but results in more young single adults at risk of having a birth outside of a stable partnership.