In a First, Out-of-Wedlock Births Are Majority in France

PARIS — France became the first non-Scandinavian country in Western Europe to record a majority of out-of-wedlock births.

Of the 816,500 births registered in France last year, 50.5% were to unmarried parents, up from 48.4% in 2006 and 40% 10 years ago, according to a report yesterday by Insee, the Paris-based national statistics agency.

"What's led the rise in out-of-wedlock births is that a lifestyle that was once confined to Paris is now the norm even in rural areas," the head of Insee's demographics department, Guy Desplanques, said in a telephone interview. "Marriage is no longer considered indispensable to form a family."

While the rate of unmarried births has risen the past decade, only Sweden, Norway, Estonia, and Bulgaria had passed the 50% mark, according to Eurostat, the European Union statistics agency. In Sweden, they've represented the majority for the past decade. Other countries are close. In 2006, the rate was 46% in Denmark, 47% in Slovenia and, 44% in Britain. While the rate has held steady in Denmark for 10 years, it's risen by a percentage point a year in Britain.

In Spain and Italy, where, like France, the majority is nominally Catholic, the rate of out-of-wedlock births has doubled in the past decade. They represent 27% in Spain and 17% in Italy. By comparison, it was 36.9% in America in 2005, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Insee's Mr. Desplanques said the rise in out-of-wedlock births are a result of the decline in marriages.