[Publication] Addressing EU demographic challenges: supporting large families and single parents

Background

The European Union (EU) is undergoing significant demographic change, with profound implications for labour markets, welfare systems and family life. At the same time, societal shifts including increased labour force participation among women and changing partnership norms are reshaping family life, with increasingly diverse family forms across the EU. Varied household forms, such as large, single-parent, blended, and living apart together families, have specific support needs but also experience shared pressures to reconcile family aspirations with rising costs of living. Large families and single-parent households face particularly high risk of poverty, material deprivation and social exclusion, compared to two-parent families with only two children. Understanding the policies that can best support these families is an important priority for the Member States.

Aim and methodology

The analysis used a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative data analysis (EU-LFS and EU-SILC) with qualitative research (literature review, desk research, policy mapping, and stakeholder consultations) to provide evidence-based findings and policy recommendations. The study’s aims were to:

• Analyse policies and initiatives to support large families and single-parent households in the EU and understand the context in which these policies are implemented.
• Research the use, accessibility and impact of Large Family Cards (LFCs) across the Member States and explore the feasibility of a European LFC.
• Develop a set of policy recommendations for both Member State and the EU level to strengthen support for large families and single-parent households.

Findings

National and European Union policy support

In the context of significant societal shifts, increasingly diverse families across the EU navigate rising costs of living and work–life balance pressures. Single-parent households and large families face distinctive needs and heightened challenges. Data show a clear risk hierarchy: single-parent households, especially those led by mothers, experience the most severe socioeconomic and health-related disadvantages, and large families experience above-average poverty risk due to the costs of raising multiple children. Although family policy remains primarily a national competence, the role of the EU has grown in recent years through initiatives such as the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Work-Life Balance Directive and the European Child Guarantee. These initiatives have encouraged Member States to improve family leave, childcare provision and child poverty strategies. Relevant progress has been achieved, with nearly all Member States offering paternity leave and expanding early childhood education and care (ECEC); but implementation and outcomes vary. Evidence suggests that well-compensated parental leave, adequate child benefits and affordable childcare have positive effects on parents’ employment and child well-being, although there is little evaluative evidence focused specifically on single-parent or large-family outcomes.

All Member States provide core family benefits, and many offer additional targeted measures (e.g. higher child allowances or tax credits for third and subsequent children or lone parents, maintenance guarantee schemes, extended parental leave, priority childcare access, or larger housing or utility subsidies for larger families). These supports help but are often complex and fragmented, so many eligible families do not receive all the assistance available to them. Civil society organisations play a complementary role in some Member States by advocating for families, delivering services, innovating benefits like family cards and assisting vulnerable families in navigating complex welfare systems.

Large Family Card initiatives (LFC)

Several Member States (and regions) have family discount card schemes that grant eligible families – usually those with 3 or more children – discounts on various goods and services. These can include reduced public transport fares, lower fees for cultural and leisure activities, and special offers from retail and utility partners. Some schemes also extend eligibility to other high-need families (such as those with a disabled child or single parents with two children). LFCs provide modest financial relief and a measure of symbolic recognition for larger families. Notable innovations include cross-border acceptance (for instance, the three Baltic countries mutually recognise each other’s large family cards) and digital platforms (mobile apps showing available discounts). However, the overall impact on household finances is limited – the savings cover only a small fraction of costs, and success depends on voluntary participation by service providers. Uptake varies, often constrained by low awareness or administrative hurdles.

Stakeholders consulted generally viewed a potential European LFC as a way to improve recognition and ensure that large families can access benefits when visiting or moving to other Member States. They stressed that any European LFC should complement, not replace, national schemes. Key considerations include inclusive eligibility (covering families with 3 or more children and similarly high caregiving needs), integration with national systems (e.g. via mutual recognition so that a national card is valid EU-wide) and strong partner engagement to offer meaningful discounts. Without sufficient benefits and user-friendliness, a European LFC would have limited added value; thus careful and consultative design is needed.

Conclusions and recommendations

Better support for large families and single parents is crucial to reduce child poverty, foster social inclusion, and help parents balance work and family life. Key policy recommendations include:

EU level:

• Consider establishing EU-wide statistical definitions of large families and single-parent households.
• Facilitate coordination and mutual learning on family policy through existing EU frameworks.
• Promote better work-life balance and job quality (e.g. flexible work arrangements, incentives for fathers to take parental leave and action against workplace bias toward single parents or those with many children).
• Improve data on diverse family forms in EU monitoring, fund research and social innovation to identify what works for single parents and large families and consider a “family impact assessment” for new EU policies.
• Consider including a separate indicator for family policies in the new Multiannual Financial Framework and its performance regulation and update variables in EU social surveys to reflect the complexity of contemporary family structures including blended families and multigenerational households.

Member States:

• Simplify and integrate benefits and services to improve access (e.g. one-stop information, automatic entitlements).
• Offer targeted assistance to single-parent households and large families (for housing, utilities, food, school needs) and ensure that benefits are adequate to living costs and family size.
• Ensure parental leave is well-compensated and gender-balanced, with provisions so a single parent can use leave that would otherwise be lost by an absent partner.
• Ensure affordable, quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) with priority for single-parent and low-income large families.
• Make maintenance and tax systems more inclusive (e.g. via refundable credits).

European LFC:

• Develop the initiative via consultation, working with families, national authorities and stakeholders to design a European LFC, clearly defining its goals (e.g. cost-of-living relief, mobility, recognition) and ensuring broad eligibility.
• Build on existing family cards by using mutual recognition or co-branding, rather than creating a separate system.
• Ensure partner buy-in and usability by attracting a wide range of partners and creating a multilingual digital app.
• Pilot the scheme in a few countries with robust monitoring of its impact before scaling up EU-wide, building on learnings from previous similar initiatives (e.g. the European Disability Card, the recently announced European Child Guarantee card pilot initiative).

Consider using centralised EU funds, such as the European Regional Development Fund, for building the digital infrastructure of the LFC model, while also leveraging EU funds allocated on a Member-State level, such as the European Social Fund Plus, for anti-poverty measures that the LFC could encompass.