More than 4 in 10 of the babies born in the United States during 2020 were born to an unmarried mother, according to federal statistics.
CNS News, a division of the Media Research Center, explained the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were 3,613,647 births registered in the U.S. in that year.
A total of 1,464,1212 were to unmarried mothers – 40.5%.
A chart in the report showed that back in 1940, only 3.8% of babies in the U.S. were born to unmarried mothers. But that was at 4% by 1945, 6.3% in 1963. It surged in the 1960s, hitting 8.4% in 1966 and 10% in 1969.
It doubled, to 20%, by 1983 and took just nine more years to top 30%.
It reached 40% for the first time, in 2008.
Since then it’s been at 40% or above for every year except one, 2018’s 39.6%.
Three states reported ratios above 50% for births to unmarried women, including Mississippi at 55.8%, Louisiana at 54.5% and New Mexico at 53.2%.
Others above the national average were Nevada at 48.8%, Alabama 48.5%, Delaware at 48.1%, Florida at 47.2%, Arkansas at 46.8%, West Virginia at 46.8% and South Carolina at 46.6%.
Georgia, Arizona, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, Michigan and Missouri also all had rates above 41%.
At the other end of the scale came Utah, with 19.3% of its babies born to unmarried mothers, Colorado at 23.2%, Idaho 27.7%, Washington 31.6%, New Hampshire at 32.1%, Minnesota 32.6%, North Dakota 32.8% and Massachusetts at 33%.
The CDC reported that 40.5% national mark was up 1% from 2019.
Further, the report said, taxpayers, through Medicaid, paid for 42% of the births.
“The general fertility rate declined by 4% from 2019 to 56.0 births per 1,000 women aged 15–44 in 2020. The birth rate for females aged 15–19 fell 8% between 2019 and 2020. Birth rates declined for women aged 20–44 from 2% to 5% between 2019 and 2020. The total fertility rate declined to 1,641.0 births per 1,000 women in 2020. Birth rates declined for both married and unmarried women from 2019 to 2020. The percentage of women who began prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy rose to 77.7% in 2020; the percentage of all women who smoked during pregnancy declined to 5.5%. The cesarean delivery rate increased to 31.8% in 2020,” the report elaborated.
The report said the information comes from “100% of the birth certificates registered in all states and D.C. More than 99% of births occurring in the United States are registered.”
“Among the race and Hispanic-origin groups, the number of births declined 2% for Hispanic, 3% for non-Hispanic black, and 4% for non-Hispanic white women from 2019 to 2020,” the report said. “Births declined 6% for non-Hispanic AIAN women and 8% for non-Hispanic Asian women in 2020. The decline in the number of births for non-Hispanic NHOPI women (1%) was not significant. Among the specified Hispanic groups, births declined 2%–3% for Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican women, 6% for women of other and unknown Hispanic origin, and increased 3% for Central and South American women in 2020.”
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This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
