For First Time, Most Hawaii Moms Under 30 Are Unmarried

Flickr: blmurch

The majority of births to Hawaii women younger than 30 are taking place outside of marriage for the first time, according to a Washington-based nonprofit research group that tracks national birth data.

Fifty-one percent of all births to Hawaii women under 30 occurred outside of marriage in 2009, the most recent year for which data is available, according to Child Trends.

"It is important to keep in mind that these percentages are a bit higher than they would be for all women, since younger women have more nonmarital births than women in their 30s and 40s," Child Trends researcher Elizabeth Wildsmith said in an email.

The state data mirrors a national trend for young mothers. As The New York Times reported on Friday, 53 percent of the children born to women under 30 in 2009 were born outside of marriage.

Since 1990, the number of Hawaii women aged 30-and-younger who gave birth and weren't married jumped 19 percentage points. In 1990, the percentage was 32 percent. In 2000, the figure had jumped to 45 percent.

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