46% of city babies born out of wedlock

CHILDREN are far more likely to be born out of wedlock to parents living in urban areas compared with rural areas, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday.

The CSO statistics for births in the second quarter of 2007 showed that 46% of children born in Irish cities were born to unmarried mothers. That is significantly less than the 28% born to unwed mothers in rural areas.

The 5,428 births outside marriage in the three-month period accounted for 31.7% of the total births.