Journal Article
The living arrangements of single mothers in Latin America: stratification by education and partnership status
Population and Development Review, 1–32 (2026)
Abstract
One in four young mothers in Latin America raises her children without a partner, yet more than two-thirds do so within extended households, typically with their own parents. Despite the social implications of single-parent families, it remains unclear to what extent the prevalence and living arrangements of single mothers have evolved over recent decades or how they vary by education and partnership status. Using Integrated Public Use of Microdata Series (IPUMS) census microdata from 17 countries (1963–2020), we show that the share of single mothers has increased over time and across all educational groups. Most continue to live in extended family households, with coresidence with parents becoming increasingly common. Living arrangements of single mothers are strongly stratified: highly educated single mothers are the most likely to live with their parents, while those with lower education and who have ever been in a union more frequently live in nuclear households. These findings highlight the central, yet socially unequal, role of extended family support in the lives of single mothers in Latin America.
Keywords: World, abortion policy, education, household composition, kinship, single persons