§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his latest estimate of the current percentage of the population who at some stage live in two-parent two-child households.
§ Mr. John PattenIt is estimated that at the time of the 1981 census about one quarter of the population of England and Wales were members of two-parent two-child families. Approximately a further one-fifth of the population were members of two-parent families with 3 or more children.
No precise estimates are available for the proportions of persons who did not belong to such families at the time of the census but who, either as a child or a parent, belonged to a two-parent two-child family before the census or who will belong to such a family in the future. However, over a whole life-time, whether as children or parents, much the greatest part of the population will at some stage either live or have lived as part of a two-parent two-child family.
§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the latest estimate of the percentage of children who grow up in families with three or more children.
§ Mr. John PattenFamilies numbering three or more children have accounted for about half of all children born to the group of women who are currently reaching the end of the childbearing ages. Although children do not necessarily spend all the years of their childhood in the family unit in which they are born, this figure provides a reasonable estimate of the proportion of children who at some stage are part of a family of three or more children.