The financial worth of a stay-at-home parent is undervalued by €20,000-€30,000 according to a study carried out by protection specialist Royal London.

In a study carried out among 1,000 men and women, 71% of respondents calculated the cost of a stay-at-hom parent to be €30,000 or less, however, Royal London estimates the cost to be closer to €42,000.

The company considered the duties of a stay-at-home parent and estimated the cost of replacing the jobs they do for the family and in the home.

Jobs included cooking, cleaning, driving children to various activities and childminding.

According to Royal London, employing someone to do all of these tasks would amount to at least €42,000.

In recent years the number of women working in the home has fallen significantly from 653,398 in 1986 to 321,878 in 2011 and the number of men looking after the home has risen from 445 in 1986 to 18,040 in 2011.