Single mother receiving children's allowance - while being eligible for the allowance herself

The youngest single mother who receives children’s allowance is a girl aged between 10 and 14 who hails from Valletta while the oldest is a Żabbar woman between 70 and 74 years old.

Children's allowance is given to eligible families until their children turn 16. 

Social Security Minister Michael Farrugia gave the information in reply to a parliamentary question by Anthony Agius Decelis (PL).

He said the number of the unmarried mothers is 5,772.

The highest number, 373, live in Birkirkara, while St Paul’s Bay houses 348 and Valletta 257.

The highest number of single mothers, 897, are between 35 and 39 years old.

Answering another question by Mr Agius Decelis, the minister said that in October only, the government issued €10,128,579 in children’s allowance to 39,878 families who have 23,827 children. 

In the previous three years, the amounts disbursed in children allowances were €40,692,285 for the whole of 2015, €40,601,027 for 2014 and €41,636,088 for 2013. The number of children also varied: 68,052 in 2013, which decreased to 66,987 in 2014 but topped 67,381 last year.