Families around Europe. Top European countries with most families that have at least three children

Last year, there were 220 million households within the EU, and a third of them, which means 65,6 million, had dependent children. These are the children aged under 15 or any person aged between 15 and 24 that socially and economically depends on another member of the family (parents or adult), according to Eurostat.

Within the EU member states, the largest proportion of households that had children was found in Ireland: 41%. Ireland was followed by Cyprus and Poland (38% each), Malta, Portugal and Slovakia (each with 36%).

Most EU families have a single child

At the opposite end, only a fifth of German and Finnish households (22% each) include children, while Sweden, Austria and Greece have 25%, 26% and 27% respectively. In most EU countries, the families have a single child. The only exceptions are The Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland and Denmark, where the percentage of those with two children is higher.

When it comes to households with three children, the highest percentage is found in Ireland (27%), Finland (20%) and Belgium (19%). Also, in France, The Netherlands and Great Britain, 17% of families with children have at least three of them.

By contrast, less than 10% of households with children in Bulgaria (5%), Portugal (6%), Spain (8%) and Italy (8%) have three or more children.

Croatia, the country with the fewest lone parent families

On a EU level, nearly half of the households with children (47%) had only one child, while 40% had two children, and 13% had at least three children.

When it comes to the proportion of lone parent families, the lowest rate is found in Croatia: 5% of the total number of households with dependent children. Romania comes second, with 7%, while Greece and Slovakia come third, each having 8%.

On the other hand, 1 in 3 families (30%) with children in Denmark is a lone parent family. The country is followed by Lithuania (28%), Sweden (25%), Great Britain (21%), France and Latvia (each with 20%).

Within the EU, 15% of the families are lone parent families.

Best countries for starting a family

A study published last year by UNICEF, which took into consideration several socio-economic factors, showed that Denmark was the best country in the world for starting a family. It is followed by Finland and Norway.

Switzerland, Austria, The Netherlands, Ireland, Estonia, Slovenia and Latvia fill the top 10, while Great Britain came 17th out of 41.

In a ranking published by Business Insider early this year, based on data obtained by InterNations within a survey conducted among expats, Finland came first among Europeann countries offering best conditions for family life.

The ranking included the Czech Republic, Israel, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Australia, Taiwan and Belgium. The last places were occupied by Turkey, Qatar, Greece, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.

Regarding the costs for child care and education, the top 5 consists of Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Norway and Austria.

Finland comes as a front-runner when it comes to the quality of education as well, followed by Singapore, Switzerland, South Korea and Hong Kong.

When it comes to family welfare, the ranking includes Australia, Canada, Japan, Finland and Israel.