In June 2017, there were an estimated 6.8 million families living in Australia; this continued the steady increase of around 100,000 families per year from June 2013. The number of families with dependants (including children under 15 and dependent students aged 15–24 years) and the number of families with children under 15 years both increased slightly to 3.2 million and 2.6 million respectively. (Datacube 1)



The vast majority of families were couple families (84%). Of the 5.7 million couple families, 2.6 million (45%) had dependants living with them in 2017.

The next largest group were one parent families (14%). Of the 967,600 one parent families, 63% had dependants living with them in 2017; 83% of these were headed by single mothers.

There were an estimated 143,900 other families in June 2017. Other families represented only 2% of all families living in Australia. (Datacube 1)

The following diagram summarises the composition of families in Australia.




Totals may not exactly match the sum of components due to rounding.