Births to unmarried mothers at all-time high

THE number of babies born outside marriage is at an all-time high, figures have revealed.

In the first three months of this year, 17,473 babies were born, of whom more than a third or 5,905 were to unmarried mothers up 7.7% from 2006.

The total of first quarter births were up 9.5% from 2006, and up 30% from the first three months of 1998.

Of the 5,905 babies born in the first three months of this year, 15 were born to mothers under 16 years old, the legal age of consent.

Of the 594 girls and women under 20 who gave birth during the period, just 44, or 7.4%, were married.

By contrast, 82% of mothers aged 30 to 34 years were married, figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday revealed.

Two mothers, aged 18 and 19, gave birth to their third and fourth child respectively, the figures showed.

The rate of 5,905 babies born out of wedlock is the highest quarterly figure since records began in 1911, according to the CSO.

The January-to-March figure is almost equal to the total for the whole of 1986, when 5,946 babies were born outside wedlock.

The average age of first- time unmarried mothers was 25 years and eight months, and the place with the highest percentage of such births was Limerick city, where 57.9% of all newborns were to unmarried mothers. The lowest was Galway county, where 19.9% of babies were born outside marriage.

The figures also confirmed the continuing trend of women leaving it later in life to have their first child.

The average age of all first-time mothers, married or otherwise, was 28 years and 11 months between January and March this year.

In the same period in 2006, the average age of first-time mothers was 28 years and six months.

The CSO figures also revealed the number of couples getting married between January and March has doubled in almost a decade — from 1,642 in 1998 to 3,399 this year, a rise of 107% in nine years.

Yesterday, the Catholic marriage agency Accord welcomed the rise but admitted to being baffled and unable to explain why more Irish people were choosing to get married.

“Figures show marriage is on the decline in Europe yet rising numbers of people are getting married here,” said Accord’s director of marriage education services Stephen Cummins.

“It would be a fantastic piece of research if someone could find out why Ireland is bucking this trend.”

In 2000, Accord gave marriage preparation courses to 6,030 couples intending to marry.

Last year the agency saw 9,320 couples, a rise of 3,290 or 55% in six years.

The figures showed marriage was still strong in Ireland, although couples were leaving it later in life to get married.

“In the USA, where they have a divorce rate of something like 50%, people cannot understand why Ireland has not had a deluge of divorces despite having divorce laws,” he said.

Mr Cummins said high house prices meant couples had to spend years building a career before they could afford a home together.