Top Ten Father Facts
- An estimated 24.7 million children (36.3%) live absent their biological father.
- There are almost 17 million children (25%) living with their single mothers.
- 1.25 million or 32% of all births in 1995 were out-of-wedlock.
- Today nearly 4 out of 10 first marriages end in divorce, 60% of divorcing couples have children, and over one million children each year experience the divorce of their parents.
- One out of every six children is a stepchild.
- There are nearly 1.9 million single fathers with children under 18.
- 4 out of every 10 cohabitating couples have children present and of children born to cohabitating couples, only 4 out of 10 will see their parents marry. Those who do marry experience a 50% higher divorce rate .
- 26% of absent fathers live in a different state than their own children.
- About 40 % of the children who live in fatherless households haven't seen their fathers in at least a year while 50% of children who don't live with their fathers have never stepped foot in their father's home.
- Children who live absent their biological fathers, on average, are more likely to be poor, experience educational, health, emotional, and psychological problems, be victims of child abuse, and engage in criminal behaviour than their peers who live with their married, biological mother and father.
A large percentage of modern day rap music comes from the bowls (womb) of fatherlessness.
“ With few notable exceptions, most of the best and most popular rappers of the last twenty years have been raised in fatherless homes. Agnes Carter raised her son Jay-Z alone when his father left the Carter home, Jay was 11. Loretta Wallace also raised her son, the Notorious B.I.G. (aka Christopher Wallace), without his father. The tremendous struggles that these single mothers faced raising their children alone merited them an esteemed place in hip-hop. They boast a gilded legacy in hip-hop and serve as sources of authority, sympathy, and inspirations. Mothers are rappers confidantes. Fathers receive less favorable treatment.
As exemplified in the following lyrics.....written by a fatherless soul.
"Had to play catch by myself, what a sorry sight
A pitiful plight, so I pray for a starry night
Please send me a pops before puberty
The things I wouldn’t do to see a piece of family unity
Moms alsays work, I barely see her
I’m starting to get worried without a pops I’ll grow to be her
A different father every weekend
before we get to meet him they break up before the week ends"
- Jay-Z, a fatherless rapper/poet
“Now ain’t nobody tell us it was fair
No love from my daddy
Cause the coward wasn’t there
He passed away and I didn’t cry
Cause my anger wouldn’t let me feel for a stranger
They say I’m wrong and I’m heartless, but all along I
I was looking for a father he was gone
I hung around with the thugs
Even though they sold drugs
They showed a young brother love”
- Tupac Shakur, a fatherless rapper/poet
Father Facts, 5th edition. 2007 National Fatherhood Initiative