FAM2.B Births to unmarried women: Percentage of all births that are to unmarried women by age of mother, 1980–2021

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Age of mother 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
All ages 18.4 18.9 19.4 20.3 21.0 22.0 23.4 24.5 25.7 27.1 28.0 29.5 30.1 31.0 32.6 32.2 32.4 32.4 32.8 33.0 33.2 33.5 34.0 34.6 35.8 36.9 38.5 39.7 40.6 41.0 40.8 40.7 40.7 40.6 40.2 40.3 39.8 39.8 39.6 40.0 40.5 40.8
Age
Under age 15 88.7 89.2 89.2 90.4 91.1 91.8 92.5 92.9 93.6 92.4 91.6 91.3 91.3 91.3 94.5 93.5 93.8 95.7 96.6 96.5 96.5 96.3 97.0 97.1 97.4 98.0 98.3 98.8 99.1 99.0 99.3 99.1 99.0 99.2 99.4 99.6 99.8 99.4 99.8 99.6 99.8 99.7
Ages 15–17 61.5 63.3 65.0 67.5 69.2 70.9 73.3 75.8 77.1 77.7 77.7 78.7 79.2 79.9 84.1 83.7 84.4 86.7 87.5 87.7 87.7 87.8 88.5 89.7 90.3 90.9 91.9 92.8 93.7 94.2 95.0 95.3 95.4 95.4 95.7 95.7 96.2 96.5 97.0 97.4 98.1 98.2
Ages 18–19 39.8 41.4 43.0 45.7 48.1 50.7 53.6 56.0 58.5 60.4 61.3 63.2 64.6 66.1 70.0 69.8 70.8 72.5 73.6 74.0 74.3 74.6 75.8 77.3 78.7 79.7 80.6 82.2 83.5 84.2 85.1 85.7 86.0 86.1 86.0 86.3 86.6 86.8 87.5 88.4 89.6 89.9
Ages 20–24 19.3 20.4 21.4 22.9 24.5 26.3 28.7 30.8 32.9 35.1 36.9 39.4 40.7 42.2 44.9 44.7 45.6 46.6 47.7 48.5 49.5 50.4 51.6 53.2 54.7 56.2 57.9 59.6 60.9 62.1 63.1 64.0 64.8 65.4 65.7 65.9 65.8 65.8 66.0 66.6 67.7 68.1
Ages 25–29 9.0 9.7 10.3 11.0 11.8 12.7 13.8 14.7 15.8 17.1 18.0 19.2 19.8 20.7 21.8 21.5 22.0 22.0 22.5 22.9 23.5 24.4 25.3 26.4 27.8 29.3 31.0 32.2 33.2 33.8 33.9 34.4 35.0 35.9 36.7 37.8 38.3 39.2 39.8 40.5 41.3 41.0
Ages 30–34 7.4 7.8 8.2 8.6 9.0 9.7 10.4 11.1 11.8 12.6 13.3 14.0 14.3 14.7 15.1 14.7 14.8 14.1 14.0 14.0 14.0 14.3 14.6 15.1 16.1 17.0 18.3 19.3 20.2 20.7 21.1 21.6 21.9 22.3 22.5 23.1 23.1 23.6 23.9 24.7 25.6 25.8
Ages 35–39 9.4 9.8 9.8 10.1 10.7 11.2 11.7 12.2 12.8 13.3 13.9 14.6 15.2 15.6 16.1 15.7 15.7 14.6 14.4 14.4 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.8 15.2 15.7 16.4 17.3 18.2 19.0 19.6 20.1 20.7 21.2 21.6 22.1 22.4 22.6 22.8 23.1 23.7 23.7
Age 40 and over 12.1 12.7 13.4 13.4 13.8 14.0 14.8 15.2 15.6 15.9 17.0 17.4 17.7 18.1 18.7 18.1 18.4 17.1 16.7 16.5 16.8 17.1 17.3 17.9 18.2 18.8 19.4 20.0 20.8 21.4 21.7 22.4 23.2 23.7 24.3 24.8 25.5 25.6 25.8 26.2 27.3 27.7
NOTE: The percentage of births to unmarried women is the number of births occurring to unmarried mothers in a given age group, divided by the total number of births, multiplied by 100. Births to unmarried women were somewhat underreported in Michigan and Texas from 1989 to 1993; data since 1994 have been reported on a complete basis. Starting with 2017 data, California no longer provides record-level data on the marital status of the mother. California provided the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) with counts of births by marital status category by age and race and Hispanic origin of the mother. NCHS redistributed the counts from California to maternal age, race, and marital status subgroups. This approach is consistent with the way NCHS imputes other missing data.
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System.