Almost one in six of the 3.4 million under-18s in the Netherlands are growing up in a single-parent family, national statistics agency CBS said on Monday.

And one in 11 children – a total of 15,000 – were born into a single-parent family this year, the CBS said. Twenty years ago, one in nine children were living with one parent.

The highest proportion of single parent families are found in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Heerlen in Limburg, the CBS said. In all three cities, one in four children is part of a single-parent family.

In the religious communities of Urk and Staphorst, just 4% of children live with one parent.

Children living with one parent are more likely to grow up in poverty – the risk of being poor is five times higher than in families with two parents, the CBS said.