In the United States, a single mother is someone who lives with one or more of her own children and has no spouse present, regardless of whether she has been married in the past.
A single mother may be widowed, divorced from her husband, separated from him but not legally divorced (in such cases the father would not be identified as “absent”), or never have been married to his partner. Single mothers can vary by race/ethnicity. For example, 37% are Hispanic as compared to 23% among White non-Hispanics. In 2011 20 million women were living with their young children only. Without any other person cohabiting within a household unit. Of these 15 million who lived below 200% of the poverty level., Approximately.
