Nuclear family consists of a child or children and their biological parents.

Single parent is a man or a woman living alone with his/her child or children. Divorce is common in Iceland, as are births to parents who are not married or living together.

This means that families with just one parent and a child, or children, living together, are common in Iceland.

Parents looking after their children alone are entitled to child support from the other parent, receive higher levels of child benefit and pay lower daycare fees than couples and spouses.

Step-families consist of a child or children, one biological parent and one step-parent/cohabiting parent assuming a parental role. The biological parent and the step-parent often both have each their own children elsewhere, meaning that the children will have step-siblings. When the parents have children together, the family can take on a very diverse form.

In foster families, the parents take in children who are not their own for a certain period of time.

Adoptive families are families with a child or children who have been adopted.

Homosexuals who are married or in registered cohabitation may adopt children or have children using artificial insemination, subject to the usual conditions governing the adoption of children, and have the same rights as other parents if they have children previously.