A study conducted by The National Center for Health Statistics shows that there has been a remarkable increase worldwide, in the number of babies born to unwed mothers.
Surprisingly, statistics show that four babies out of ten born last year were borne by unwed women. This contradicts the general belief that only teenage girls end up with babies born out of wedlock. This study has found that the number of teen pregnancies dropped last year.The single women who gave birth to babies were mostly either waiting to get married or in a living together arrangement.
Stephanie Ventura, the co-author of the study said, 'A lot of people think of teenagers and unmarried mothers synonymously, but they are not driving this.'
This phenomenon of unwed parentage was not limited to any specific ethnicity but there has been a notable rise in the number of Hispanic unwed mothers last year.
Of the 4.1 million babies born in the US in 2005, 1.5 million or nearly 37 percent were born to unwed women. This is only one percent more than the figures of 2004.
Source-Medindia
PRI/ASH/L
