The percentage of women who gave birth while unmarried in the United States has declined over the past decade, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. The study, titled Social and Economic Characteristics of Currently Unmarried Women With a Recent Birth: 2023, found that in 2011, 35.7% of women with a recent birth were unmarried. By 2023, this figure had dropped to 30.9%. In absolute numbers, this represents a decrease from under 1.5 million to about 1.2 million unmarried mothers.
In total, four million women between ages 15 and 50 gave birth in the last year measured by the report. Of those who were unmarried and recently gave birth—about 1.2 million—roughly 35.5%, or around 450,000 women, lived with an unmarried partner.
The analysis is based on data from the American Community Survey (ACS) for both years studied and compares findings with earlier estimates from the same source.
From 2011 to 2023, either decreases or no statistically significant changes in the proportion of recent births among unmarried women were observed across all U.S. states and Washington D.C.
Age was a significant factor: In 2023, about nine out of ten (90.1%) young women aged 15 to 19 who gave birth were unmarried. However, this age group saw its number of recent births drop sharply—from over 216,000 in 2011 to just over 82,500 in 2023.
Education also played a role:
– In both years studied, nearly half of recent mothers with less than a high school education or only a high school diploma/GED were unmarried.
– Specifically for those without a high school diploma or GED, there was a decline—from 57% in 2011 to just under half (48.9%) in 2023.
– For high school graduates or GED holders who recently gave birth while unmarried, percentages remained similar between years.
– The share of new mothers holding at least a bachelor’s degree increased slightly—from about one out of twelve (8.8%) in 2011 to more than one out of nine (11.4%) in 2023.
Geographically, certain states—including Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia—had higher proportions of recent births among unmarried women compared to national averages. Meanwhile Colorado and several other states reported lower-than-average rates.
For further information on fertility statistics collected by the Census Bureau visit their Fertility webpage at https://www.census.gov/topics/health/fertility.html.
“###
