The figures show that in 2011 there were 1.96 million lone parents with dependent children, compared to 1.7 million in 2001.
The popularity of marriage is also continuing to decline, according to the Office for National Statistics’ Families and Households in the UK 2001 to 2011 bulletin.
There were 262,000 fewer married and civil partnership couples in 2011 than there were in 2001. This is part of a trend since the early 1970s that has seen an increase in cohabiting couples. The number of cohabiting couples increased from 2.1m to 2.9m between 2001 and 2011.
The proportion of cohabiting couple families that have dependent children stood at 38 per cent in 2011, the same percentage as for married couple families.
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