Sunday, May 17, 2009
The good news from the latest study on single moms in America is that teenagers don’t account for nearly as many of the unwed births as they used to, according to research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Overall, however, childbearing by unmarried women in the United States has skyrocketed in recent years. In 1980, only 18% of babies were born out of wedlock, but by 2007 almost 40% of all births (1,714,643) came from single mothers.
From the mid-1990s until 2002, the number of single mothers having children remained fairly stable. But then from 2002-2007, the total jumped 26%, thanks in large part to more women in their twenties and older having children out of wedlock, especially those who are Hispanic or African American.
Back in 1970, teenagers accounted for 50% of all non-marital births. But in 2007 they represented just 23%.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Changing Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States (by Stephanie J. Ventura, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
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