Out-of-Wedlock Birthrates Are Soaring

Out-of-Wedlock Birthrates Are Soaring

outofwedlockbirths

The New York Times has this:

Unmarried mothers gave birth to 4 out of every 10 babies born in the United States in 2007, a share that is increasing rapidly both here and abroad, according to government figures released Wednesday.

Before 1970, most unmarried mothers were teenagers. But in recent years the birthrate among unmarried women in their 20s and 30s has soared — rising 34 percent since 2002, for example, in women ages 30 to 34. In 2007, women in their 20s had 60 percent of all babies born out of wedlock, teenagers had 23 percent and women 30 and older had 17 percent.

Much of the increase in unmarried births has occurred among parents who are living together but are not married, cohabitation arrangements that tend to be less stable than marriages, studies show.

The pattern has been particularly pronounced among Hispanic women, climbing 20 percent from 2002 to 2006, the most recent year for which racial breakdowns are available. Eleven percent of unmarried Hispanic women had a baby in 2006, compared with 7 percent of unmarried black women and 3 percent of unmarried white women, according to government data drawn from birth certificates. . . . .

The report from the CDC is available here.

"Out-of-wedlock births hit record high"

"Out-of-wedlock births hit record high"

outofwedlockbirths

The rates of out-of-wedlock births is buried in the piece. I don't understand why the rates aren't the center piece are not the focus rather than simple raw totals (after all, the total US population is growing over time), but this piece is still noteworthy.

What she said about cultural differences and expectations might help explain some of the numbers. Other data released last month showed the percentage of unwed mothers differs from race to race. While 28 percent of white women gave birth out of wedlock in 2007, nearly 72 percent of black women and more than 51 percent of Latinas did. . . .