Major drop in number of births to teenage mothers

The number of births to teenage mothers was much lower in 1996 than in 1980, contrary to some popular perceptions, the Oireachtas Joint Community on Family, Community and Social Affairs has been told.

In a debate on the Report of the Commission on the Family, the committee heard that there were 2,700 births to teenagers in 1996 compared with 3,580 in 1980.

The major change, according to the commission secretary, Ms Catherine Hazlett, was in the marital status of the mothers. Ninety-five per cent of births to teenagers in 1996 were outside marriage, compared with about 40 per cent in 1980.

In 1996, 25 per cent of all births were to unmarried mothers, she added. But another major trend adding to the growth in lone-parent families was marital breakdown, with the numbers of separated people rising from 37,200 to 87,800 in the 10 years to 1996.

Ms Hazlett reported that cohabiting couples accounted for 3.9 per cent of all family units in 1996. Of the 31,298 in this category, 60 cent had no children.

The Fianna Fail senator, Mr Don Lydon, objected to the classification of childless cohabiting couples as families. "An unmarried couple without children is not a family," he said, adding that certain things in the report were "spurred by a left-wing agenda". Mr Seymour Crawford, a Fine Gael TD, said young married couples were under "incredible stress" because of the housing crisis. This was exacerbated by the feeling that they would be better off cohabiting.