The Crazy Statistic Of The Day
When I saw this statistic yesterday I actually blinked and read it through carefully a few times to make sure I was reading it correctly. If you are under 30, and have a baby in America, chances are you are not married. Over half of the births to women under 30 are out of wedlock. Oh, and if you think it is confined to just that, if you look at every age of every woman giving birth, almost 40% of babies in America are born out of wedlock. Apparently no one is getting married anymore or at least don't worry about whether they should get married before having babies. If you just count Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and their 48 children, you are going to get a huge number so I knew that the number of out of wedlock children was high, but the 40% overall and 50% under 30 seems really high.
48 comments:
I'm 26 and all the people I know with kids aren't married, so I'm not shocked by this at all! It's sad, but true.
People are still getting married. That has nothing to do with it. There were more than 2.5 million weddings last year. I think now its just that its more "socially acceptable" to have a baby out of wedlock so getting knocked up doesn't mean an automatic race to the altar. Not to mention the skyrocketing number of teen pregnancies that probably skewed the numbers a bit.
Those ARE some crazy numbers, I never would have guessed.
I don't think it is sad at all. Women are having the sense to know you don't have to marry your baby daddy. Just last week a woman posted she only got married for money and financial security and that is all she gets. Now that is sad to live a life with no affection.
Being a father doesn't mean having to be a husband you can be in the child's life and the child can have a happier life with two people who want ild but wouldn't do well living together.
People should marry becuase they want to share their lives with that person straight or gay, not out of neccesity.
Actuall according to CNN teen pregnancy rates are at the lowest in years
First of all, this statistic is likely including all lesbian mothers as "unwed single moms" despite the fact that many of them would be in committed long-term relationships. And what about surrogates...they could be classified as either wed mothers or unwed mothers, but both are misleading as they are purposely not keeping the babies they give birth to.
What about gay dads? They wouldn't be included at all. They may be accounted for if surrogates and babies given up for adoption are accounted for by these statistics.
I'd really like to know the breakdown of these statistics - who was included and who wasn't.
Second of all, who cares? I don't mean that rudely, I just mean: is this necessarily a bad thing? I do not think so.
It's ideal for a child to have both parents living with and raising them, but I'm also glad the stigma of single parenting isn't as harsh.
And with the current Republican assault on female reproductive freedom, I expect these numbers to rise. But hey, there's always the ''aspirin between the knees'' method of family planning, right?
I think anyone should be allowed to get married, and I think any woman of childbearing age should have access to inexpensive birth control. The planet does NOT need more people.
LOL - Just because teen pregnancy numbers may decline a little year to year does not mean they aren't sky high compared to the rest of the world and just plain old too high in general.
Enty, as a lawyer, you may be able to say whether this is true or not, but I'd understood years ago that in California, a married couple with different last names may show up in some statistics as unmarried. So you've got married couples where the wife doesn't change her name, lesbian mothers, gay fathers, plus straight couples who don't get married all having children "out of wedlock." Not sure there's a valid study there.
I think you'd have to see the statistics proper to figure out why it's so high.
I think something is skewed here.
I like the strange statistic post! We could do with a couple of these a week to snark on.
Of course you don't have to buy the pig to get a little sausage.
Women should be sure they are not breeding with males that have messed up chromosomes and men breeding like dogs (or Lil Wayne) and abandoning their kids without conscience. No good can come from that.
Remember how well the no birth control and no abortion thing worked in Romania.
It's sad society has lost it's value and respect for marriage.It is decaying morally more and more all the time.Now most people are barely any different than animals, just serial mating.
Some get married then divorced after the baby is born. I know so many divorcees under 25! I'm glad I never married my boyfriend, we've been going strong for 7 years, alot longer than some of our married friends.
I was under 30 when I had both of my children. I got married to their daddy in between. Of my siblings who did this the "right way", they are all on their second marriages. (not that there is anything wrong with that)
Ida - I'm glad to see you are still drinking the leftstream media, Media Matters, Huffpo, Soros-funded kool aid.
I can always count on you! Because nothing says freedom of religion like forcing a religious institution to mandate something they don't believe in.
What if they mandated that all kosher delis must serve ham sandwiches?
In other news, sky is blue. Welcome to the 21st century!
For the last 5 years I've thought that in 500 years, there won't be any weddings. When you think of it, it's kind of stupid actually. They rarely work, you can lose everything you own when it goes bad, you can be in debt for the rest of your life, and it's a religious ceremony to begin with. I think more and more people are moving away from religion, as they see them as money making corporations that hide child molestation, etc.
@brakewater -- the fact that there are religious institutions that seriously consider popping a pill to be akin to the act of killing a human baby is truly frightening. That's all.
This country is becoming more and more like the world Margaret Atwood envisioned in The Handmaid's Tale.
I'm 28 and my husband and I have been married for going on six years before we decided to have a baby (still waiting to pop any day now...)
I think these statistics and the state of people having children out of wedlock just has to do with people too often rushing into relationships and not thinking of long-term consequences of their actions. But that's just me.
@Brakewater I'm a long-time lurker and signed up just to comment on your post.
Your comment seems an awful lot like trolling aimed directly at Ida. Your argument makes no sense because Kosher delis do not try to send people to jail for eating ham sandwiches, especially when not eating may be harmful to, or kill them.
I don't know Ida but I think that your intolerance of her voice adds fuel to the fire of those who say that some groups do not accept opposing views; ie that they are intolerant. Have you ever changed your opinions because someone insulted or mocked you? Of course not - that only creates more anger.
Most pro-choice people do not wish to force those who oppose abortions to have one. No one would wish that heavy choice and difficult experience on anyone.
The world would be a better place if people stayed in their own domain - swept their side of the street, so to speak. If you don't want to get married or have an abortion, don't. If you want to manifest change, then educate and lead through modelling the behaviour you support. Be the change you want to see in the world and you will attract more supporters than through cheap attacks and bullying.
This statistic might also include women who are tired of waiting for decent grown up men to come along before having babies on their own. I know two who have done this. They wanted to be mothers but they did not want to be wives, so they found a way to get pregnant without any strings.
I'd love to see the counter statistic to this, married couples under 50 with no children and no plans to have children. Wonder if it comes close to balancing out.
This helps to explain the statistics:
Part of the reason for high numbers and rates of nonmarital births is due to increases in the median age at marriage. Currently, the median age at first marriage – the age at which half of all women get married for the first time– is a year older than the median age at first birth.[3],[4] The Pew Charitable Trusts reports the median age at marriage is 26 for women, while recent birth data shows the median age at first birth is age 25.[5],[6] These numbers reflect greater delays in marriage than in births in the past several decades. For comparison, in 1980, the median age at marriage was one year younger than the median age at birth (at age 22 vs. age 23).[7],[8]
This is the link if anyone is really interested.
http://blog.childtrends.org/2011/12/16/trends-in-marriage-and-fertility/#_ftnref
Happy single mom here, with a bright, well-adjusted, gorgeous kid.
I was a single mom by choice, and I think there are going to be a lot more of us in the future.
More women graduate from college than men - even medical schools are graduating more women than men - and there seem to be more and more women going after a a smaller pool of 'educated' guys. That doesn't mean that women have to marry a guy with a similar level of education, but women do generally prefer a guy with a job, and this economy more education = more likely to have steady work.
There are some wonderful guys out there, and I have dated some of them, but there are also a lot of deadbeats. When women can pay their own way, they're less likely to put up with a guy who can't.
There is no Republican assault on women's reproductive rights. That is just a lie being perpetuated by the media.
Brakewater:
Nobody is forcing churches to serve up birth control or same sex marriage. No one is forcing those who don't support birth control, abortion or same sex marriage to either use it or have one.
However, you are trying to prevent people who do not have any problem with any of those concepts not to be able to exercise their beliefs.
Same sex marriage is and has been legal in Canada for 5+ years. The sky has not fallen and no church has been forced to perform a marriage against their will.
Cook? Seriously? I dont think these stats are good for the child at all they seem to represent some indecision or even a careless decision. Think of the child!!! What is best for him or her. Just because u want a baby, and can have a baby does not make it a good descision. I know married and single women who have thought out everything, decided to have baby, and have been floored by thr responsibility!! So to nust go oops look what happened oh this will be fine,
It just doesnt happen! Welfare of coming child is paramount, not what adults want.
@Cook -- "There is no Republican assault on women's reproductive rights. That is just a lie being perpetuated by the media."
Is this what you mean?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ap-us-santorum-outofste,0,5381324.story
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/73027.html
http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-18/nation/31071627_1_republican-senators-new-england-republicans-controversial-health-care-bill
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12050/1210927-149.stm
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/17/is-contraceptive-debate-gop-s-new-terry-schiavo-moment.html
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/02/17/2398599/sen-murray-gop-waging-a-war-on.html
Dude, I could literally google this topic and cut and paste all day. And don't even get me *started* on what's going on here in Virginia.
What really offends me about this topic is the assumption that women are nothing but childbearing vessels awaiting our ~true~ purpose in life. I have *nothing* against children -- more often than not, I even prefer their company to that of adults -- but I am absolutely certain that I just don't want any of my own.
And what about all the SUPER young women who are still kids themselves and find themselves pregnant because they were either too scared or ashamed to ask for birth control? Telling them to remain abstinent until they're old enough or responsible enough for motherhood is unrealistic and patronizing as hell.
And I don't think that being married necessarily makes a person a better parent. People who desire children should be able to birth them (or adopt them) by all means -- personally, I don't care if those people are unmarried, gay, or single. But women should *also* have the right to enjoy physical intimacy without the threat of pregnancy looming over them.
There is no assault on religious freedom in this country (unless you are trying to build a mosque). If you are a church, you are free to have your services and your beliefs, but when you become a BUSINESS (university, hospital, whatever) then you are subject to the business laws and regulations of this country, including those that pertain to your employees who could belong to any religion, or no religion. It really is that simple, and it's a law that existed in 28 states before the Obama administration added it to the federal regulations.
Funny how there isn't a religious objection to providing Viagra for senior citizens well past child bearing age.
/rant
Damn Ida, I don't always agree with you, but today is one of the days I would wear your tshirt. :)
I try to stay away from politics, but the new GOP angle on this is: Obama forced the Republicans to look like they were opposed to contraception, just like he forced them to look like birthers by being so provocative to people with birtherish dispositions!
I ADORE Maya Rudolph.
@FS -- no t-shirts need be worn. Just please vote accordingly. ;-)
This isn't news. Less people are getting married, so it's no surprise there are more out-of-wedlock births. I was reading somewhere that, for the first time in history, there are more single people than married ones. Marriage is definitely on the decline, at least in the U.S.
Ida, I completely agree with you. And Brakewater, if the Republicans aren't assaulting women's bodies right now, I'd like to know what you WOULD consider an assault on us. So far, this month, contraception and abortion are both under fire. What's left?
THis church and birth control thing was an issue Obama did as an election strategy, and it worked. It made the GOP so into a fit that drove unmarried women back to Obama.
The GOP BC panel make up of nothing but old males did not make them look good either.
Educated women looking for educated men, there is no greater example than this in China. There is already a woman shortage in that country so the women there now are MUCH more choosy. They want a man who has money, job and schooling.
The best way to prevent your daughters from marrying a d-bag guy. Encourage her to get educated.
Back on topic, Sue Ellen has it nailed. It's not that women under 30 are choosing not to get married, it's that women getting married and having children are waiting until their 30's to procreate. We were considered "young" parents at 31/33 in our social milieu. Most of the parents of my daughters' schoolmates were 3-7 years older than me and my ex. Conversely, no one was surprised when I was tooling around with a baby in my mid-40's (except me).
The way non-academic studies like those are structured, they tend to under-represent low income and immigrant families. Adjusted for that skew I'd bet the average is still under 30.
Please everybody, don't feed the trolls.
You can never argue with them because they base their form of logic on a completely false premise.
China is a bad example because they have an overall girl shortage due to preferring male babies. Of course the women can be choosy, there are less of them!
more shocking is the number of married women getting pregnant by other men without bothering to get a divorce. I actually work for the Court as staff attorney for family judges and this is more prevalent than you want to know.
Making it more festive, in my state it is PRESUMED the married man is the legal father, and that's REALLY hard to undo. So these bitches are wilfully setting up some dude to take the fall for support for kids just b/c they are too lazy to bother to get a divorce before unprotected shacking up with a new dude.
Ya, remind me what's wrong with gay marriage again...
As the bumper sticker on my friend's car says "Queer couples don't have unwanted babies". :)
Ida, I think I love you. :)
*Soapbox* You know, people working in businesses run by the Catholic Church "can" choose to NOT use BC that is offered to all if it is against their own personal belief system. Just because it is offered doesn't mean they have to use it. *Soapbox*
Ida, I'm really sorry about what is going on in Virginia right now. It is truly unconscionable.
I know several unmarried couples with children who are, in fact, living together and raising the child together. Just because they aren't wed, doesn't mean they're single - if you know what I mean.
"Wedlock"? What is this, the 50's??
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