“Single-Parent Families on the rise in Germany”

Prabhupada, Montreal, August 26, 1968: […] Because in the Vedic understanding there is no divorce. If the wife is not very pleasing, there is no question of divorcing. Canakya Pandita does not advise it, the advise that he should divorce such wife, but he says, aranyam tena gantavyam: he should give up family life and go to the forest. Divorce was completely unknown, even up to, say, five years ago. Now this Nehru government has enacted Divorce Act in Hindu law, but actually, Hindu law-maker, they have no such thing as divorce. Full Conversation

“Single-parent families on the rise in Germany”
Published: 29 Jul 10 15:26 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20100729-28831.html

The number of single-parent families in Germany has risen over the past decade, with nearly one in five mothers and fathers now raising their children on their own, a national “microcensus” revealed Thursday.

The Microcensus 2009, released by the Federal Statistics Office, found that 19 percent of families with children aged under 18 had only one parent. In 1996, the figure was 14 percent – or about one in seven.

The total number of single-parent families rose over the same period by 20 percent, from 1.3 million to 1.6 million.

Yet at the same time, there are fewer families overall today than in times past. While there were 9.4 million families with children under 18 in 1996, there were just 8.2 million last year.

The figures are worrying because single parent families are more likely to live in poverty than those with both a mother and father. In 2009, some 31 percent of single-mother families lived on incomes of less than €1,100 per month – with mothers of children younger than three-years-old especially hard hit.

Some 62 percent had incomes of between €1,100 and €2,600 per month. For 31 percent of single mothers, welfare such as Hartz IV unemployment benefits was the main source of income.

A separate report from the Federal Statistics Office, titled “Life in Europe,” found that in 2008, nearly one in five single-parent families could not afford to properly heat their homes. Nearly three quarters said they were not in a position to pay unexpected bills such as a broken washing machine. More than half said they could not afford a one-week holiday requiring travel once a year.

DDP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)