Out-of-wedlock birthrates are soaring in U.S.

Unmarried women had nearly four of every 10 newborns in a trend experts say is driven by fewer social stigmas and delayed marriage.

By ROB STEIN and DONNA ST. GEORGE, Washington Post

Last update: May 13, 2009 - 10:26 PM

The number of babies being born out of wedlock has increased sharply in the United States, driven primarily by significant jumps in the number of women in their 20s and 30s having children without getting married, according to a federal report released Wednesday.

More than 1.7 million babies were born to unmarried women in 2007, a 26 percent rise from 2002 and more than double the number in 1980, according to the report from the National Center for Health Statistics. The increase reflected a 21 percent jump in the rates of unmarried women giving birth, which rose from 43.7 per 1,000 women in 2002 to 52.9 per 1,000 women.

That means that unmarried women accounted for 39.7 percent of all U.S. births in 2007 -- nearly four out of every 10 newborns -- up from 34 percent in 2002 and more than double the percentage in 1980.

"It's been a huge increase," said Stephanie Ventura, who led the analysis of birth certificate data nationwide.

Ventura and other experts said the trend has been driven by a combination of factors, including the lessening of the social stigma associated with unmarried motherhood, an increase in couples delaying or forgoing marriage, and growing numbers of financially independent women and older and single women who decide to have children on their own after delaying childbearing.

"We've seen a transformation of social norms," said Rosanna Hertz, a professor of sociology at Wellesley College. "Women can have children on their own and it's not going to destroy your employment and it's not going to mean that you'll be made a pariah by the community."

But others said the shift is disturbing because studies have shown that children generally tend to fare better when they grow up in stable households with two parents.

In Minnesota, nearly 33 percent of new moms in 2007 were unmarried -- up from 27 percent in 2001. More than 42 percent of them were 25 and older; less than 20 percent were 15 to 19. Compare that with 1990, when more than 30 percent of unwed moms in Minnesota were 19 or younger and only 33 percent were 25 and older.

Out-of-wedlock births are also rising in much of the industrialized world: In Iceland, 66 percent of children are born to unmarried mothers; in Sweden, the share is 55 percent. (However, Japan's share was only 2 percent.) But experts say the U.S. increases are of greater concern because couples in many other countries tend to be more stable and government support for children is often higher.

"In Sweden, you see very little variation in the outcome of children based on marital status. Everybody does fairly well," said Wendy Manning, a professor of sociology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. But U.S. children born out of wedlock tend to have poorer health and educational outcomes than those born to married women.

The New York Times contributed to this report.

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