Number of out-of-wedlock births rises worldwide

HYATTSVILLE, Md. — The percentage of births to unmarried mothers is increasing worldwide, and nearly four in 10 U.S. births were to unmarried women in 2007, according to a recent report by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Birth rates have risen considerably for unmarried women in their 20s and over, the report said, and nonmarital birth rates are highest for Hispanic women, followed by black women. The study, released in May, said births to unmarried women in 2007 totaled 1.7 million, up 26 percent from 2002. Sixty percent of births to women ages 20–24 were to unmarried women, up from 52 percent in 2002, and 32 percent of births to women ages 25–29 were to unmarried women, up from 25 percent in 2002.

Among the 14 countries analyzed in the report, the percentage of all live unmarried births in the U.S. — 40 percent — ranks somewhere in the middle. USA Today noted the United States figure is up from 18 percent in 1980.  (TAB)