Most Australia children still grow up in families with both natural parents, according to a new report released by Australian Institute of Family Studies.

The report - Diversity and Change in Australian Families: Statistical Profiles - shows that while couples with dependent children form a minority of households, the “vast majority” of Australian children - about three quarters - still grow up in households with both of their natural parents.

But in an indication of the ageing population, more than 43 per cent of couples had no children living with them with the vast proportion of them older people whose children have left home.

The report - which charts family trends over the past 30 years - also shows that around 22.3 per cent of families with dependent children are sole parent families and that almost 27 per cent of children spent some time living in a sole parent family at some point before their 18th birthday. A third of all marriages now consist of at least one person who has previously been married.

Almost one in ten people now live on their own - equating to around a quarter of all households.

Other data contained within the report shows that Australian women have, on average, 1.7 children with a 2001 figure showing median age at which they are having their first child to be 27.3 years.

- DAVID ADAMS