According to the latest edition of Antwerp University’s ‘Poverty Yearbook’ single parents and blended families have a harder time financially than others in our society. Single mothers in particular find it hard to make ends meet and have a harder time financially than single fathers. The researchers that compiled the ‘Poverty Yearbook’ also found that blended families require around 8 years to regain the same level of financial security as families that have remained intact.
Single parents in Belgium are more often socially disadvantaged and fall into poverty more quickly than other groups
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Social scientist Kristien Nys of the Odisee College of Higher Education told VRT News that policymakers need to provide better support for single parents and blended families. She added that “Single mothers are more likely to have a lower income than single fathers. Around 37% of single mothers have to get by on an income of less than 2,000 euro per month, while this is the case among 30.6% of single fathers”
Mieke is a divorced mother who has to raise three children on a shoestring budget. She told VRT News that this is not easy: “Housing costs, schoolbooks, school fees, the clothes they keep growing out of. Everything is a challenge for me.”
Mieke is not alone
Mieke’s situation is not unique. 6 out of 10 single mothers have to support a family on an income of less than 3,000 euro gross per month. Christine Nys says that “If we take a closer look at this group, we see that more than 72% of them struggle to make ends meet and that more than half of them are unable to go on holiday every year, for example.”
Christine Nys believes that the state should provide additional support for single parents “For example by increasing single parents’ participation in the labour market and increasing funding of childcare and increasing certain child benefits to ensure that groups living on a very low income are able to make ends meet”.