Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Center for Health Statistics Release: December 5, 2007
The study shows unmarried childbearing reached a new record high in 2006. The total number of births to unmarried mothers rose nearly 8 percent to 1,641,700 in 2006. This represents a 20 percent increase from 2002, when the recent upswing in nonmarital births began. The biggest jump was among unmarried women aged 25-29, among whom there was a 10 percent increase between 2005 and 2006.
In addition, the nonmarital birth rate also rose sharply, from 47.5 births per 1,000 unmarried females in 2005 to 50.6 per 1,000 in 2006 -- a 7-percent 1-year increase and a 16 percent increase since 2002.
The study also revealed that the percentage of all U.S. births to unmarried mothers increased to 38.5 percent, up from 36.9 percent in 2005.
The statistics are featured in a new report, "Births: Preliminary Data for 2006," prepared by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, and are based on data from over 99 percent of all births for the United States in 2006. A final report to follow will have more detailed data.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/07newsreleases/teenbirth.htm
According to U.S. Vital Statistics data, the nonmarital fertility rate increased from
7.1 per 1000 unmarried women in 1940 to 46.9 1000 unmarried women in 1994 – more
than a six-fold increase. The rise was uninterrupted except for a few years in the 1970s. In
recent years it has leveled off in the mid-40 range. This steady increase contrasts with the
large swings in the overall U.S. fertility rate during the same period.
The increase in the nonmarital fertility rate, combined with decreasing fertility rates
among married women since the 1950s and with more recent declines in rates of marriage,
has produced a steady rise in the nonmarital birth ratio. During the 1940s nonmarital births
were 3.5 per cent of all births. By 1960 the ratio had crept up to slightly more than 5 per
cent. By the 1990s it had jumped to the 32-33 per cent range (Ventura & Bachrach 2000).
http://paa2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=50050
Births to Unwed Mothers Increase to Record Proportion in U.S.
By Elizabeth Lopatto
July 13 (Bloomberg) -- More than a third of all U.S. births in 2005 were to unwed women, the highest level ever reported, according to data released today by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.
The increase to 37 percent may be due to more unmarried couples living together, people getting married later in life, restricted access to birth control and concern among older women that fertility declines with age, experts said. Pregnancy among teenagers fell as fewer had sex and more used contraceptives, the report's authors said.
Unwed mothers are more likely to have children with lower birth weights and a higher infant mortality rate, and their offspring are at higher risk of living in poverty, according to the report. Even after controlling for the mother's age, the children are at greater risk, said report co-author Stephanie Ventura, the chief of reproductive statistics at the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland.
``In many cases, there's a socio-economic situation that's not as favorable,'' Ventura said in a telephone interview on July 11. ``Many of these women don't have the same nutritional opportunities, even before they're pregnant.''
Single moms with significant economic resources don't all have the same problems, Ventura said. Still ``it's an important factor to identify if you're looking at children who might need more supports to balance out the family situation.''
Most cases of unwed motherhood used to be accidental, said Stephanie Coontz, a professor of history and family studies at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. The increase in older unwed mothers suggests that women in poor areas may have less access to birth control, or that women are cohabiting without marrying.
Failed Relationships
``You may have women with a failed relationship who ended up pregnant,'' said Coontz, who wasn't involved in compiling the report, in a telephone interview yesterday.
The data is incomplete without information about the economic resources of the women, Coontz said.
``You may have women whose biological clock was ticking, who had good economic and educational resources and the support of their friends and family,'' she said. ``That's a big distinction.''
Those who have economic difficulty or who didn't think through their pregnancies are more likely to drink and smoke when pregnant, Coontz said.
The statistics on unwed mothers may be somewhat deceptive, said Marie McCormick, a professor of maternal and child health at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston who wasn't involved in preparing the report.
False Counts
``In California, they used to look at the birth certificate, and if the mother's last name and the father's last name were different, they declared the women unmarried,'' McCormick said yesterday in a telephone interview. Some women opt to keep their name after marriage, and might be falsely counted as unmarried, she said.
Domestic partnerships may account for the rise in unwed mothers, she said. This was the first time she'd seen an increase in births among unwed mothers over age 25.
``This looks more like things in Europe,'' she said. ``We're seeing less marriage.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: July 13, 2007 00:00 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aAexAvTGa7zk&refer=us
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