Marriage and family life continue to suffer the inroads of contemporary society. In England the number of women giving birth outside of marriage has risen by 22% in the last 5 years.

According to a June 29 report published by the Daily Mail newspaper, in 2006 a total of 327,000 children were born out of wedlock, 59,000 more than in 2001. In terms of a proportion of overall births, in 2006 no less than 43.7% of babies had unmarried mothers.

16th July 2007