ALEXANDRIA, Va. — One-third of grandparent caregivers lived in “skipped generation” households where neither parent of the grandchild was present, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today. The report is based on Census 2000 data.

    Today at the 12th Generations United International Conference, the Census Bureau released a report on nearly 6 million grandparents who lived with their grandchildren under age 18 in 2000. Of the grandparents living with their grandchildren, more than 40 percent were the grandchildren’s primary caregivers.

    The report, Grandparents Living With Grandchildren: 2000 [pdf], shows the geographic distribution of grandparents living with grandchildren and serving as caregivers, as well as the length of time the grandparents cared for the grandchildren. The percentage of grandparent caregivers who lived in poverty also is shown.

    Some highlights from the report:

• Almost all grandparents responsible for grandchildren were either the householder or the householder’s spouse (94 percent).
• Coresident grandparents younger than 60 were more likely to be grandparent caregivers than were grandparents age 60 and over — 50 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
• Racial and ethnic differences in grandparent coresidence and caregiving were prominent. Although the majority of grandparents living with grandchildren were non-Hispanic white (2.7 million), they comprised only 2 percent of the non-Hispanic white population age 30 and over. By comparison, 6 percent to 10 percent of other racial and ethnic groups lived with their grandchildren.
• While 8 percent each of the black, American Indian and Alaska native and Hispanic populations age 30 and over lived with grandchildren, Hispanics were less likely than blacks or American Indians and Alaska natives to be caregivers for these grandchildren: 35 percent versus 52 percent and 56 percent, respectively.
• Just over 6 percent of Asians age 30 and over were grandparents living with grandchildren, but only 20 percent of them were primary caregivers.
• Nineteen percent of grandparent caregivers were living in poverty in 1999. The highest proportion of grandparent caregivers in poverty was in the South (21 percent), and the lowest proportions were in the West and the Midwest (16 percent and 15 percent, respectively).

The data are based on responses from the sample of households that received the census long form, about 1-in-6 nationally, and are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.