Between 2003 and 2004, one in 10 New Zealanders changed their family type. Understanding how and why families change or remain stable is important because of the impact on our government’s policies and family services. This report analyses one year of statistical family changes.
Although one in 10 New Zealanders changed their family type over 2003-2004, the majority were stable. This report analyses research from Statistics New Zealand’s Survey of Family, Income and Employment (SoFIE) to examine why some families change.
Information is presented across four family types:
- couple only
- couple with children
- one parent with children
- other (eg, single people living alone).
The key conclusion is that life-cycle factors such as the birth of a child, partnering, or leaving home appear to drive change in family arrangements.
Purpose
The objective of this report is to describe the characteristics of individuals in different family types and to explore differences in the characteristics of those who move from one family type to another.