47% of children being born in UK were out of wedlock

LONDON: Children born outside marriage have rocketed in the United Kingdom over the last half a century.
The latest figures by the Office of National Statistics of UK in January shows that in 2011, 47% of births – nearly 1 in 2— occurred outside marriage or civil partnership in England and Wales.
According to the data, in 2011, just over half of births (53%) occurred within marriage or civil partnership compared with 60% in 2001 and 94% in 1961.
"Marriage or civil partnership remains the most common family setting for births as a whole despite the steady fall in percentage of births registered to married couples since the 1960s," says the ONS.
The percentage of births occurring outside marriage or civil partnership (47% in 2011) varies considerably by age. According to ONS’s data, almost all women (96%) aged under 20 who gave birth in 2011 were not married or in civil partnership.
In contrast, women in the age group between 30–34 and 35–39 giving birth were either married or in a civil partnership with only 31% of births outside such relationships, the lowest percentage across all the age groups.
In 2011, the percentage of births occurring outside marriage or civil partnership was higher for all age groups compared with 2001.
"Births outside marriage or civil partnership can be registered jointly by both the mother and the second parent or solely by the mother. Where the birth is jointly registered and the parents give the same address, it can be inferred that they are living together. The proportion of births registered to cohabiting parents has increased in recent years but remained unchanged between 2010 and 2011 at 31% of all births, compared with 25% in 2001 and 10% in 1986 (the first year figures for cohabiting parents are available)," according to the ONS.
It adds that this trend is consistent with increases in the number of couples cohabiting rather than entering into marriage or civil partnership.
In contrast, the percentage of births registered solely by the mother has fallen very slightly over the last 10 years to 6% in 2011 and 2010 from 7% in 2001.
In comparison 7% of births in 1986 were registered by the mother alone.
Overall, 84% of births in 2011 were to parents who were married, in a civil partnership or cohabiting (couples who are not married but are living together). Of the remainder, a further 10% of births were registered jointly by parents living at separate addresses, while only 6% were registered by the mother alone.
"Births to mothers aged under 25 were most likely to be jointly registered by cohabiting parents, while for women aged 25–29 and older, marriage/civil partnership was the most common family setting for births, followed by cohabitation. The percentage of births which were either jointly registered by parents living at different addresses or solely registered by the mother was higher among women aged under 25 than among older mothers," the data shows.
The data also looks at the age of an average mother. Babies born in England and Wales in 2011 were most likely to have a mother aged 25–34, with over a half (56%) of mothers in this age group. A further 24% of babies were born to younger mothers, aged under 25, while a fifth (20%) had mothers aged 35 and over at the time of birth.
In 2011, the percentage of births to mothers aged 25–34 was more than double the percentage to mothers aged under 25, this was similar in 1938. In contrast, in 1971 births to mothers aged under 25 (47%) exceeded births to 25–34 year old mothers (46%).
Fathers tend to be older than mothers, according to the latest data. The ONS says while nearly half of all babies (49%) were born to 30-year-old women in 2011, nearly two-thirds (65% of babies) had fathers aged 30 and over. That percentage has remained relatively unchanged over the last decade (65% of babies were fathered by men in this age group in 2001).
In 2011, the standardized average (mean) age of all mothers giving birth in England and Wales was 29.7 years, a small increase compared with 29.5 years in 2010.
Between the mid-1940s and mid-1970s, the average age of mother decreased by nearly three years (29.3 years in 1944 to 26.4 years in 1973). Since 1973 the average age of mother has generally increased.
The overall rise since 1973 reflects the increasing numbers of women who have been delaying giving birth. "Possible influences include increased participation in higher education, increased female participation in the labour force, the increasing importance of a career, the rising costs of childbearing, labour market uncertainty, housing factors and instability of partnerships," said the ONS.