In 1950, about 3 percent of all births were to unmarried women. This percentage has increased steadily over the past 50 years, and by 1999, there were 1.3 million births to unmarried women, accounting for just under a third of all births in the United States. Since 1995, the percentage of nonmarital births has remained fairly stable.
Three factors account for most of the increase in nonmarital births: the proportion of women of reproductive age who were unmarried has increased; fertility rates of married women have declined; and the fertility rates of unmarried women have risen gradually, as shown in the graphs on this page. Fertility rates of unmarried women have more than tripled since the early 1950s. This increase is paradoxical to many, given that effective methods of contraception became widely available, and laws against induced abortion were eliminated, in the 1960s and 1970s. Contraception and abortion probably explain the temporary decline in nonmarital fertility rates from the mid-1960s until the mid-1970s, but the increase in the 1980s has no simple explanation.
Fertility rates of unmarried women in their 20s are higher than the rates for teenagers. However, because younger women face greater challenges as single parents, most public discussion focuses on preventing teen pregnancies. The fertility rate of unmarried teenagers has fallen in recent years from its high point of 46.4 births per 1,000 unmarried women ages 15 to 19 in 1994 to 43.9 in 1999.
In 1998, nonmarital fertility rates were highest among Hispanic women (90.1 births per 1,000 women in 1998) and black women (73.3 births per 1,000 women). The 1998 rate for non-Hispanic white women was 27.4 births per 1,000 women.
