Health & Medicine
Unwed Mothers are Having Fewer Babies: CDC
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Aug 14, 2014 12:04 AM EDT
A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that fewer unmarried American women are having babies. However, officials noted that there was an exception for women over the age of 35 or unmarried couples who live together.
Births outside of marriage only saw a slight decline in 2013, accounting for about 40 percent of all births; that's just 7 percent lower than the peak in 2008, with reductions in all age groups under the age of 35.
"It's still high compared with previous generations, but there has been a decline," said report author Sally Curtin, a statistician at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, via Health. "Since the 1940s, except for a few brief periods, there has been almost a continued increase in non-marital childbearing."
Furthermore, researchers found that what's referred to as "cohabitating unions" has jumped to 58 percent of all non-marital births between 2006 and 2010, up from 41 percent in 2002, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Older mothers are also experiencing a bit of a baby-boom, according to researchers. Officials found that this was true for women between the ages of 35 and 39, specifically among unmarried women. The report found that the rate of non-marital births was 7 percent higher in 2012 at 31 births per 1,000, compared to 2007's 29 births per 1,000.
At the same time, the birth rate for women's ages also increased. Nonmarital birth rates for women between 40 and 44 increased to nine births per 1,000 in 2012; that's a 29 percent increase from seven per 1,000 births via 2007 statistics.
"When people think of nonmarital births, they tend to think of single women, but it's really much more likely to be a two-parent cohabitating family," said Jennifer Manlove, co-director for Reproductive Health and Family Formation at the nonprofit research group Child Trends, via CBS News.
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First Posted: Aug 14, 2014 12:04 AM EDT
A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that fewer unmarried American women are having babies. However, officials noted that there was an exception for women over the age of 35 or unmarried couples who live together.
Births outside of marriage only saw a slight decline in 2013, accounting for about 40 percent of all births; that's just 7 percent lower than the peak in 2008, with reductions in all age groups under the age of 35.
"It's still high compared with previous generations, but there has been a decline," said report author Sally Curtin, a statistician at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, via Health. "Since the 1940s, except for a few brief periods, there has been almost a continued increase in non-marital childbearing."
Furthermore, researchers found that what's referred to as "cohabitating unions" has jumped to 58 percent of all non-marital births between 2006 and 2010, up from 41 percent in 2002, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Older mothers are also experiencing a bit of a baby-boom, according to researchers. Officials found that this was true for women between the ages of 35 and 39, specifically among unmarried women. The report found that the rate of non-marital births was 7 percent higher in 2012 at 31 births per 1,000, compared to 2007's 29 births per 1,000.
At the same time, the birth rate for women's ages also increased. Nonmarital birth rates for women between 40 and 44 increased to nine births per 1,000 in 2012; that's a 29 percent increase from seven per 1,000 births via 2007 statistics.
"When people think of nonmarital births, they tend to think of single women, but it's really much more likely to be a two-parent cohabitating family," said Jennifer Manlove, co-director for Reproductive Health and Family Formation at the nonprofit research group Child Trends, via CBS News.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone