Global Evidence on Children’s Living Arrangements

This paper provides global evidence on the living arrangements of children, using harmonized census data from 95 countries encompassing 85 percent of the world population. While residing with two parents is the most common living arrangement in nearly every country, there is substantial cross-country heterogeneity. When children do not live with two parents, they tend to live with their mother only or with no parent. Living with only one's father remains rare. We document that countries with greater economic resources, lower income inequality, and higher human development scores consistently exhibit larger shares of children living with two parents.