CDC: 40.7% of Babies Are Born to Unwed Mothers

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Babies being born out of wedlock have become more of a standard than an outlier, at least that’s the implication in a new CDC report. 

Over 40 percent of the babies born in this country are born to unwed mothers, according to the report.

“The 2011 preliminary number of U.S. births was 3,953,593, 1 percent less (or 45,793 fewer) births than in 2010; the general fertility rate (63.3 per 1,000 women age 15-44 years) declined to the lowest rate ever reported for the United States,” read the report.

The percentage of American-born babies who were delivered by unmarried women actually declined slightly from 40.8 percent in 2010 to 40.7 percent in 2011.

In 2011, 1,606,087 babies were born to unmarried women and 2,347,506 were born to married women.

The reports continues: “In 2010, 33.9 percent of the babies delivered by women 25-29 were delivered by unmarried women, and in 2011 that increased to 34.4 percent. In 2010, 21.1 percent of babies delivered by women 30-34 were delivered by unmarried women, and in 2011 that increased to 21.6 percent.”

Not surprisingly, the percentage of babies born to unwed mothers was highest among teens. This all raises questions about whether the nuclear family, with a mother and a father, has a real future in this country. And what is responsible for the decline of the nuclear family? Is it cultural? Does it relate at all to government benefit programs? Irresponsibility among parents?