Raising children alone in Latin America and the Caribbean: strong mothers and weak social assistance

Across Latin America and the Caribbean there is a growing consensus that “single mother” households are at disadvantage, yet systematic evidence on their conditions has been missing. How prevalent are these households? How have they changed in recent years? How do they fare in terms of work and wellbeing? Who supports these homes and how? We have set out to answer these questions on a new comprehensive study for the region. In this blog post we share three key facts from our findings and some suggestions for the design of effective policies. Fact 1: Lone-mother households in Latin America and the Caribbean are on the rise. A quiet demographic shift is reshaping family life in the region. Over the past fifteen years, the share of households with children where the mother is the only adult (i.e. lone mother households) has grown from 7% to nearly 10%. Today, close to one in ten children in the region is growing up in a lone-mother household — a 46% increase in just one and a half decades. Trends in lone motherhood in Latin America and the Caribbean (%, 2007-2022) This regional average varies across countries, from 5.3% in Honduras to 14.1% in the Dominican Republic. Behind these statistics are millions of women raising children largely on their own, navigating challenging labor markets, poverty, and inadequate social support with remarkable resilience. Fact 2: Poverty hits lone mothers and their children hard. Lone-mother households face a poverty rate of 45.5% compared to a regional average of 26.8%. In Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, and Peru over half of lone-mother households are poor. This is not simply because lone mothers earn less; it is because they face a combination of disadvantages that public policy has so far failed to adequately address. Share of lone mother households classified as poor [2021] (% of lone mother households living below the US$8.30 per person per day poverty line, 2021 PPP) Fact 3: Lone mothers work hard, but the quality of their jobs is below par, so they need to compensate with other income sources. Women are not disengaged from the labor markets, quite the opposite. More than four in five lone mothers participate in the labor force, compared to about three in five women who count on other adults at home to raise children. The problem, nonetheless, is about the quality of the jobs that lone mothers hold. Without access to quality childcare, lone mothers often cannot take on better-paying formal employment, which regularly requires full-time commitments and extra hours. They are 10% more likely than women who raise children with other adults to work in the informal economy, in jobs that offer low wages, no benefits, and no job security. More than one in four lone mothers are "working poor", meaning they have a job but still cannot make ends meet. Lone mothers are essentially on their own, and far more dependent on transfers. On average, nearly 60% of household income comes from the lone mother's labor earnings. The other 40% comes from private transfers — from non-resident fathers, relatives, and others — and public assistance (the latter actually contributes only 7%). By contrast, in households where women raise children with other adults, nearly 80% of household income comes from jobs. Income sources of lone mother households (income sources as a % of total household income) What would actually help? Lone mothers are hardworking women navigating an economic environment that often fails to support them. Their challenges are diverse, so policy action should account for such diversity. We came away with three interconnected areas where policy action could make a real difference: 1. First, childcare access is perhaps the single most powerful policy lever available. When mothers can access reliable childcare, they can pursue better employment, earn more, and build greater financial security for their families. A key question, however, is how to finance such fundamental work-enabler. 2. Second, social protection needs to better reach lone mothers. A 7% public assistance contribution to household income is not sufficient. Expanding and improving the targeting of conditional cash could directly reduce poverty rates of these families. 3. Third, child support enforcement would not resolve all the disadvantages lone mothers face, but it would help ensure the cost of raising children is shared more fairly. Private transfers (which include child support payments) account for just 13% of total household income. Clearly financial support from non-resident fathers falls short of what is needed. Lone mothers in the region are strong, but strength should not be a substitute for support. Women in the region are doing everything right: working, caring, persisting. But they need a system that works as hard as they do. The good news is we know what can work: childcare access, social protection and child support enforcement. We hope this research helps push the conversation forward. Source: Raising Children Alone in Latin America and the Caribbean: Strong Mothers and Weak Social Assistance