Share of children living with a single parent in Norway
Norway: Share of children living with a single parent was 23.4% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Share of children living with a single parent in Norway, 2003–2023
Source: OECD (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Norway recorded 23.4% for share of children living with a single parent in 2023. That is the highest value across all 21 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.4% on the previous year and up 28.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children living with a single parent in Norway peaked at 23.4% in 2023 and was at its lowest, 15.9%, in 2014.
That places Norway 4th out of 34 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 21 years of available data.
Share of children living with a single parent in Norway, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 17.7% | — |
| 2004 | 16.3% | -7.9% |
| 2005 | 17.2% | +5.5% |
| 2006 | 19.9% | +15.7% |
| 2007 | 20.6% | +3.5% |
| 2008 | 17.4% | -15.5% |
| 2009 | 19.5% | +12.1% |
| 2010 | 20.6% | +5.6% |
| 2011 | 18.2% | -11.7% |
| 2012 | 16.8% | -7.7% |
| 2013 | 18.2% | +8.3% |
| 2014 | 15.9% | -12.6% |
| 2015 | 19.8% | +24.5% |
| 2016 | 21.6% | +9.1% |
| 2017 | 20.8% | -3.7% |
| 2018 | 19.4% | -6.7% |
| 2019 | 19.1% | -1.5% |
| 2020 | 18.6% | -2.6% |
| 2021 | 19.3% | +3.8% |
| 2022 | 23.3% | +20.7% |
| 2023 | 23.4% | +0.4% |
Norway compared with similar countries
- Norway's 23.4% is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 15.8%, 1.5× the median. (31 countries reporting)
- Norway's 23.4% is above the median for high income countries, which is 17.6%, 1.3× the median. (33 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 18.4% | 16.3% | 20.6% | 7 |
| 2010s | 19.0% | 15.9% | 21.6% | 10 |
| 2020s | 21.1% | 18.6% | 23.4% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Norway
More reference data data for Norway
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.3703 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 0.3621 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 1.55 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.0618 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 1.55 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 1.24 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 0.7734 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 1.48 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 6.9 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.3366 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children living with a single parent in Norway?
- Share of children living with a single parent in Norway was 23.4% in 2023, according to OECD (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of children living with a single parent recorded in Norway?
- The highest recorded value was 23.4% in 2023.
- What is the lowest share of children living with a single parent recorded in Norway?
- The lowest recorded value was 15.9% in 2014.
- How does Norway rank for share of children living with a single parent?
- Norway ranks 4th out of 34 countries with data for 2023.
- Is share of children living with a single parent rising or falling in Norway?
- Over the last ten years it is up 28.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Norway data come from?
- The figures come from OECD (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of children living with a single parent. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 21 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage of children aged 0-17 living with a single parent.