Single-parent family

Honorable Ministers,

As you know, the minimum fertility rate necessary to ensure the replacement of generations corresponds to 2.1 births per woman of reproductive age. However, the current fertility rate in our country is 1.2, which is much lower than the 2.1 that ensures generational replacement. This, combined with the increase in life expectancy (80.3 years as of 1995), leads to the aging of the Greek population.

In this context, I would like to address the issue of single-parent families in Greece, which are not a new and isolated phenomenon; on the contrary, they represent a reality that will become increasingly visible statistically and socially. Moreover, the portrait of single parenthood is changing as it more frequently becomes an individual choice.

In our country, currently, the percentages of children born out of wedlock are among the lowest in the EU, while family separations are increasing dramatically. Based on data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) and Eurostat, the percentages of single-parent households correspond to about 10% of all families, whereas the corresponding percentages in other European countries are considerably higher.

According to the recent Eurostat report (News 15/3/2000), for every 100 single-parent families with a high income in our country, there are 248 with a low income. This means that approximately two-thirds of single-parent families live in conditions of poverty.

In comparison, I would like to highlight the contribution of most European social welfare systems to the maintenance of single-parent families, which is based on the belief of states that within the framework of family policy, investing in child protection is the best guarantee against poverty and increased social costs later in life, while also representing a national productive investment.

According to the Panhellenic Association of Single-Parent Families, the biggest problems faced by single-parent families are:

– Economic: unemployment, lack of adequate education or training, difficulty for the single parent to maintain a job due to the lack of childcare facilities and other flexible care options for children.
– Health and social security: lack of substantial care for both the woman and the man who is a single parent.
– Social: reluctance to hostility from the social environment towards divorced individuals, widows, or unmarried parents.

To address this unfavorable situation, I would like to present a set of measures for the support and enhancement of single-parent families, aimed at ensuring a socially just and dignified living for these families, with the goal of preventing poverty and social exclusion and alleviating their marginal position in the public, economic, and social life of our country:

– Tax reductions for single parents with low or middle income
– Support for low-income single-parent families to benefit from the same favorable measures that apply to large families
– Ensuring compliance with established provisions:
a. reduced working hours for the first two years of the child’s life
b. parental leave for employees in the private sector
– Accelerating procedures for the establishment of a personal advisor in the Employment Agency (OAED), a practice already in place in many European countries for a long time.
– Extending childcare hours in preschools and schools. I would like to highlight the difficulties faced primarily by working mothers during school holidays.
– Providing support, counseling, and training from Local Government.
– Special legislative provisions for the protection of the single father.

In conclusion, I believe that only new and innovative ways of combined approaches to employment and welfare can help the most socially vulnerable groups, such as single parents, to stand on their own and take care of themselves. The development of human resources, individual self-sufficiency and fulfillment, as well as the integration of individuals into society, are desired goals and challenges for modern society. Single parents can benefit from a combined policy aimed at transitioning from equal rights to equal treatment in the labor market, through equal opportunities in society.

I hope that my intervention will find positive recipients for the creation of a policy and legislative support for single-parent families, following European standards, within the framework of measures to address the demographic issue.

With appreciation,

Anna KARAMANOU