Single mothers outnumber single fathers in Hong Kong in 2016: census

HONG KONG - The number of single parents in Hong Kong dropped about 10 percent in 2016 from 2011, but single mothers continue to outnumber single fathers, official statistics showed on Friday.

The number of single parents first rose and then dropped in the past ten years, from 76,423 in 2006 to 81,705 in 2011, but then decreased to 73,428 in 2016, according to the results of the 2016 Population By-census released by the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.

Single mothers continued to far outnumber single fathers in 2016. There were 56,545 single mothers, more than three times the number of single fathers.

Nevertheless, the number of both single mothers and single fathers declined in 2016, compared to 2011. The number of single mothers shrank 11.7 percent from 64,040 in 2011, while that of single fathers dropped 4.4 percent from 17,665 in 2011 to 16,883 in 2016.

On the whole, the majority, or 74.7 percent, of single parents were aged 30 to 49. The median age of single fathers was 47.7, while that of single mothers was 42.4.

The median monthly domestic household income of single parents was  HK$14,820 ($1,900) in 2016, lower than that of all domestic households in Hong Kong at HK$25,000.

Single parents are defined as mothers or fathers who are never married, widowed, divorced or separated, with a child or children aged under 18 living with them in the same household.