Thursday, July 18, 2002
Ireland experiencing increase in children born out of wedlock
A story published today by the Irish Examiner reports that according to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office, about a third of all children in Ireland are now born outside marriage. Of the 14,972 births registered during the first three months of this year, 4,877 occurred outside marriage.
The figures also show there were 21 children born to mothers aged 15 and younger.
The largest number of children 4,892, was born to mothers aged between 30 and 34. The next largest group, at 3,638, was born to mothers aged between 25 and 29.
CSO statistics show little variation in the number of people getting married over the past 50 years, possibly because most unmarried couples decided to wed after their first child was born.
There were 19,246 marriages last year compared to 15,420 in 1959 when the population was much smaller. In 1990 there were 17,838 marriages.
An Economic and Social Research Institute report published earlier this year shows about 12% of children aged under 15 live now in single-parent families.
