Issue Date: February 17, 2008

Out-of-wedlock births

Single and now a mom

Nearly 40% of U.S. babies in 2006 were born outside of marriage.

About half of unwed mothers live with boyfriends.

Forget wedded bliss. More and more women are skipping the traditional steps of love and marriage and heading straight into having babies.

Nearly 40% of all American babies were born out of wedlock in 2006, an all-time high, government statistics show. That's more than twice the rate in 1980, when 18% of children were born outside of marriage.

The fastest-growing group of unwed mothers: women 25 to 29. The number of babies born out of wedlock to women in this age group was 10% higher over the course of one year (2005-06).

"People feel more free to pick and choose their life trajectories and feel less compelled to marry," says Stephanie Coontz, professor at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and research director for the Council on Contemporary Families. "It's a sea change."

The dramatic rise in the number of unwed mothers is partially due to increased cohabitation and postponement of marriage by couples, Coontz says. About half of all unwed mothers are living with their boyfriends, she says. Many of these couples eventually marry.

But the numbers also reflect some single women's growing fears about developing fertility problems if they wait around too long for the right man, Coontz says. Still, others don't deliberately have babies out of wedlock, but they often find themselves welcoming an unintended pregnancy in a relationship.

Many unmarried women are ambivalent about their relationships, however, they are not willing to give up on the dream of having a child, Coontz says. "They are more afraid of marrying the wrong man and experiencing a di-vorce than of being an unwed mom," she says.

Although out-of-wedlock births are growing fastest among women who are in their late 20s, younger women still have the most babies out of wedlock. More than 80% of babies delivered by teen mothers were born outside of marriage in 2006, while nearly 60% of those delivered to women ages 20 to 24 were out of wedlock.

Nearly 30% of babies delivered to women ages 25 to 29 were born outside of marriage in 2006.

-- Rochelle Sharpe