2-Parent Families Drop Sharply, Census Report Shows

The proportion of two-parent family households has dropped sharply since 1970 and now makes up 26% of all U.S. households, a Census Bureau study reported today.

At the same time, however, the bureau reported that while the number of single parents increased by 2.8 million in the last decade to 9.7 million, the numbers grew more slowly in the 1980s than in the 1970s.

Still, single parents accounted for 28% of the 34.7 million one- and two-parent family groups with children under 18, the report said.

According to the bureau’s report, based on its March, 1990, Current Population Survey and not the April decennial census, 26% of households consisted of a married couple with children under age 18, compared to 31% in 1980 and 40% in 1970.

Of the 93.3 million households in 1990, family households--including single parents and parents with no children or children over 18--accounted for 71%, down from 74% in 1980 and 81% in 1970.

About 52.3 million households consisted of married-couple families, while another 10.9 million families were headed by a woman with no husband present. And 2.9 million families were headed by a male with no wife present.

The report also showed there were 27.3 million non-family households in 1990, but said the growth in the number of such households has “slowed significantly, dropping from an annual rate of 5.7% in the 1970s to 2.5% in the past decade.”

Other highlights included:

* The number of persons per household averaged 2.63 people in 1990, down from 2.76 in 1980 and 3.14 in 1970.

* Persons living alone accounted for 25% of all households, slightly less than the percent of nuclear families.

* Women with no husband present maintained 44% of black family households in 1990, compared to 13% of white family households and 23% for Hispanic family households.