One in three NI births outside marriage

One in three of all births in Northern Ireland is now outside marriage, it was revealed today.

A British government report also showed over half of all new babies in Belfast are born to unmarried mothers.

With more people deciding to live together, the marriage rate is falling, while divorces grow in popularity, new figures showed.

The population is also living longer and healthier lives, with the death rate in the province having fallen to its lowest ever level.

Robin McRoberts of leading relationship counselling organisation, Relate NI said there were a number of reasons why the number of children born outside marriage had reached an all-time high.

He said: “A lot of it is down to changing attitudes in society. Much of the stigma associated with living together and having children outside marriage has been forgotten.

“If you go back just a few decades it was regarded as a real embarrassment for families when a woman had a child outside marriage but that seems to be a thing of the past.”

The number of children born to unmarried mothers varies greatly between urban and rural areas, with more than 50% in Belfast, but only 18% in Magherafelt, Co Derry.

Mr McRoberts, Relate NI’s director of services, said the expense of marriage and property was also forcing many couples to live together rather than get married.

Mr McRoberts said the declining influence of the church in modern society was also having a negative effect on the number of people who choose to get married.

“Attitudes are changing and many people are now happy to get married in civil ceremonies or simply to live together,” he said.

“There is also a general loosening of the belief that a relationship is for life.”

The number of divorces granted in Northern Ireland has also continued to rise, from 100 per year in the early 1960s to around 2,300 in each of the last 10 years.

Mr McRoberts put a lot of this down to the fact that women are becoming more assertive.

Dr Dermot O’Reilly of Queen’s University in Belfast said the main finding of the 80th annual report of the Registrar General was that people are getting healthier and living longer.

He said: “Most people now live to over the age of 75.

“This can be put down to the fact that people are living healthier lives and that the health service is providing better care.

“Northern Ireland traditionally has one of the highest mortality rates in western Europe, but we are improving all the time and we are catching up.”

Dr O’Reilly said he believed the birth rate will continue to fall despite a rise in the figure for 2001.

“I believe the 2% increase on the 2000 figure is just a blip and I expect it to continue to fall for some years to come,” he added.