New
Report Tracks Trends and Patterns in Nonmarital Births
50-year rise in births
to unmarried women levels off during the 1990s
For
Immediate Release: October 18, 2000
Contact: NCHS/CDC Public
Affairs (301) 458-4800
E-mail: nchsquery@cdc.gov
Nonmarital Childbearing
in the United States, 1940-99. NVSR Vol. 48, No. 16. 39. pp. (PHS) 2001-1120. View/download PDF 282 KB
A new report from CDC’s
National Center for Health Statistics provides a comprehensive analysis of
the trends and patterns in nonmarital childbearing from 1940 to the
present. Based on data from birth certificates reported to NCHS through
the National Vital Statistics System, the report describes the level of
unmarried childbearing over the past 60 years, by such characteristics as
age, race, and ethnicity of the mother.
The report also
examines many related factors including changes in marriage patterns,
sexual activity, contraceptive use, and abortion. "Nonmarital
Childbearing in the United States, 1940-99" is intended for those who
need to understand the short- and long-term trends in unmarried
childbearing as well as some of the demographic, population, reproductive, and
behavioral shifts that have affected these trends.
Key highlights of the
report show:
After rising
dramatically during the half century from 1940 to 1990, out-of-wedlock childbearing leveled off, or slowed its rate of increase,
during the 1990's. Since 1994, the percent of births to unmarried
women has remained stable at about 33 percent. The birth rate for
unmarried women increased from 43.8 per 1,000 unmarried women aged
15-44 years to 46.9 between 1990 and 1994 and then declined by 1999.
The number of
births to unmarried women reached an annual total of 1.3 million
in 1999, increasing by a little over 1 percent annually during the
1990's as compared with an average annual increase of about 6 percent
during the 1980's.
Fewer than 3 in
10 nonmarital births are to teenagers, but the majority of teen
births are out-of-wedlock. Ages 20-29 are the peak childbearing
years, and women in their twenties account for over half of all
nonmarital births. The number of births to unmarried teens was 2
percent lower in 1999 than in 1998.
The decade of
the 1990's contrasts sharply with the 50 or so preceding years. The
numbers of nonmarital births rose 13 fold between 1940 and 1994.
The birth rate for unmarried women increased more than 6 times
from 1940 to 1990. Two key factors contributed to the rising
number of nonmarital births from 1940 to 1990: the increased birth
rate for unmarried women and the steep increases in the number of
unmarried women.
Nonmarital
birth rates differ considerably by race and Hispanic origin. Rates
for unmarried black women have historically been higher than for
white women, but the disparity has narrowed in recent years. The
rate for black women was 7 times that for white women in 1970 but,
by 1998, this differential was just under 2. The rate for
unmarried Hispanic woman is the highest for any race/ethnicity
group, consistent with the overall higher birth rate for Hispanic
women.
Drawing upon national
surveys, the report includes data on patterns of marriage, living
arrangements, and contraception use.
A key change in
marital status patterns has been the large increase in
cohabitation among unmarried couples. In 1980-84, 29 percent of
out-of-wedlock births were to cohabiting couples; 10 years later
this proportion increased to 39 percent. This group accounts for
most of the increase in births to unmarried women since the early
1980's.
As more couples
cohabited, fewer married or married later and this trend, coupled
with the baby boom population surge, caused an increase in the
number of unmarried women of childbearing age.
Contraceptive
use may also have contributed to the downturn in nonmarital
births, with a greater proportion of unmarried women using
contraception in the 1990's as compared with the decade before. The
latest survey results showed that women were more likely to use
condoms and long-acting methods. About one quarter of unmarried
women relied on sterilization, primarily tubal ligation.
An international
comparison of nonmarital childbearing presented in the report, shows that
the United States has not been alone, nor has it outpaced other countries,
in the long increase in unmarried childbearing to its current levels. In
1998 half or more of births in Norway and Sweden were out of wedlock,
compared with one third in the United States. Other industrialized
countries with higher proportions of nonmarital births were Denmark,
France, and the United Kingdom. However, levels in the U.S. are much higher
than in some industrialized countries, such as Germany, Italy, Greece, and
Japan, where less than 15 percent of births are out of wedlock.
"Nonmarital
Childbearing in the United States, 1940-99," National Vital Statistics
Reports Vol. 48, No. 16, October 18, 2000, by Stephanie J. Ventura, NCHS and
Christine A. Bachrach, National Institute for Child Health and Human
Development, National Institutes of Health is available from NCHS by
calling (301) 458-4636. It can be viewed and downloaded without charge
from the NCHS/CDC Web site. For more information contact the NCHS/CDC
public affairs office at (301) 458-4800.