Law in Charts · Marriage and divorce

Births outside marriage, over time

How has the share of births outside marriage moved in nine European countries since 1990?

% of live births outside marriage

Source: Eurostat, Fertility indicators (demo_find). Data for 1990 to 2024. What it counts, how to cite it and the data

At a glance

Germany: 10.5% in 1990, 32.4% in 2024.
France: 41.7% in 1998, 59.7% in 2024.
Spain: 9.6% in 1990, 50.0% in 2024.
Italy: 6.5% in 1990, 41.3% in 2024.
Poland: 6.2% in 1990, 28.9% in 2024.
Sweden: 47.0% in 1990, 57.1% in 2024.
Bulgaria: 12.4% in 1990, 61.9% in 2024.
Romania: 17.0% in 1993, 32.1% in 2024.
Ireland: 14.6% in 1990, 38.4% in 2019.

The countries shown are a selection of European countries with long data series, chosen for coverage and not for any result.

What it counts

Live births to mothers who are not married, as a share of all live births.

What it leaves out, and how far to trust a comparison

The share has risen in most countries as marriage has become less tied to having children, and changes in family law, tax and benefits can move it. A line shows that something changed, not why.

Source

Eurostat: Fertility indicators (demo_find). Source licence: CC BY 4.0. Data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25.

Cite this chart

Free to use in teaching, articles, reports and slides, with credit. Our compilation is licensed CC BY 4.0; the source publishes the underlying data under its own licence, shown below.

Reference (APA style)

TheLawToKnow. (2026). Births outside marriage, over time [Chart]. Law in Charts. https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/births-outside-marriage-trend. Data: Eurostat, Fertility indicators (demo_find), https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/demo_find/default/table (data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25).

Short credit for slides and websites

Chart: TheLawToKnow, Law in Charts (https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/births-outside-marriage-trend). Data: Eurostat.

BibTeX

@misc{birthsoutsidemarriagetrend2026,
  author = {{TheLawToKnow}},
  title = {Births outside marriage, over time},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Law in Charts},
  url = {https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/births-outside-marriage-trend},
  note = {Data: Eurostat, Fertility indicators (demo_find), https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/demo_find/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25.}
}

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Course: Family Law

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