Single-Parent Households in Taiwan: Estimation from One Percent 1990 Census Data

本研究探用1990年普查資料百分之一隨機樣本，推估出台灣地區的單親戶約佔全部普通住戶(但括單人戶)的3.9％，將近20萬戶，而男女單親比為四比六。若只考慮戶中有未成年兒童，那麼台灣地區單親戶約佔6.5％；也就是說，在有未成年兒童的家庭中，每十五戶約有一戶是單親戶。在另一方面，若以「人」為單位，所推估出「單親兒童」的數量則為三十五萬餘人，佔十八歲以下兒童的5.4％，即大約每十八個兒童有一個和單親同住。若單從上述比例來看，1990年台灣單親家庭並不如西方社會普遍；然而，從普查資料中所顯示的單親，必須已是具備離婚、喪偶、或未婚的身份，並且有「十八歲以下未婚子女」同住。因此，對於夫妻因工作關係分居之「暫時單親」，或有夫妻之名而無夫妻之實的「準單親」，都不在計算立內；所以上述的數字在現實生活中，都應該是「下限」。 至於單親戶的分佈，若從單親戶佔該縣市總戶數的比例來看，以台東縣、花蓮縣、屏東縣為最高，以苗栗縣、嘉義縣、台北市為最低。若以絕對數字來比較，以台北縣、台北市、和高雄市為最多，而澎湖縣、嘉義市、苗栗縣為最少。有關單觀的特性，整體來說，離婚單親為最多(佔58%)、喪偶單親其次(佔38%)、未婚單親最少(佔4％)；其中男單親以離婚為最多，但是在女單親中，喪偶和離婚者比例接近。此外，「目前有工作」的單親有70.6%，沒有作者佔29.4%，其中男單親有工作者比女單親有工作者高出21％。最後關於單親兒童，本研究發現平均每個單親戶有1.84個「十八歲以下未婚子女」同住，這些「單親兒童」的男女性別比差不多是各佔一半。This research employs one percent of random sample from the 1990 Census data in Taiwan area. After programming the nested data with around 50 thousand household units, this research estimates the proportion of single-parent households over the overall households (including single-person household) as 3.9%。 Besides, using the households consisting of children under 18 as the denominator, I re-estimate the figure as 6.5%.I also calculate the proportion of children who were living with single parents, and obtain the figure 5.4%－that is, one of every 18 children in Taiwan lived with single parents in 1990. These figures are calculated under the welfare-oriented definition of‘single parent family' ,in which parents are either divorced, widowed, or single, with unmarried children aged under 18 living together. The male-female sex ratio of single parents is 4 to 6. In Taiwan, most single fathers are divorced, while single mothers are largely due to divorce as well as widow. In 1990, 70.6% single fathers were employed and about half of single mothers had jobs. In this paper, we also report the frequency and percentage distribution of ‘single-parent household' by 23 administration districts in Taiwan