This paper draws conclusions from the available evidence, much of it international. This report is not an attack on single mothers. Strong parental attachment generally mitigates the many disadvantages their children face.

Despite families being much smaller, parents being older, mothers being better educated and having much higher employment rates, child poverty has risen significantly since the 1960s. In 1961, 95 percent of children were born to married couples; by 2015 the proportion had fallen to 53...